Editor’s Note

IT was with a modicum of hope and guarded optimism Scrooge-like fashion, offered the sop of ‘timely that representatives of the least developed countries implementation’ of the WTO decision. (LDCs) – along with their counterparts from the Clearly, it was a crushing disappointment as it was developed and developing countries, international evident that the rich countries were not prepared to move agencies and civil society – convened in Istanbul on 9-13 beyond the status quo. Some UN officials tried to put a May for the Fourth United Nations Conference on the positive spin on the outcome, but civil society groups LDCs (LDC-IV). under the umbrella of the LDC Civil Society Forum were In attending this decennial event, these dismissive of the Istanbul Programme of Action for representatives from 48 of the poorest countries in the failing to live up to the mandate agreed ahead of the world had legitimate expectations that the rich countries conference. Worse still, the rich countries had tried to would take some decisive steps in the implementation of present South-South cooperation as being substantial the Brussels Programme of Action for the LDCs for enough to absolve them of additional commitments to 2001-2010. The aim of the latter programme, which was support the LDCs. adopted by LDC-III, is ‘to make substantial progress In addition to the failure to commit additional toward halving the proportion of people living in extreme finances for the LDCs, significant civil society poverty and suffering from hunger by 2015 and promote criticism is levelled against the rich countries over their the sustainable development of the LDCs’. The Istanbul ideological bias in their approach to ‘enhancing productive conference was convened with the aim of assessing the capacity’ in the LDCs. While the civil society groups fully results of the Brussels Programme and adopting new endorse the need to boost ‘productive capacity’, they measures and strategies for the sustainable development charge that the Istanbul Programme of Action ‘relies of the LDCs into 2020. heavily on economic liberalisation repackaged in new Apart from their Brussels commitments, there was ways’. Specifically, ‘market-led approaches have been also a moral imperative for the rich countries to respond replaced by private sector-led approaches’. While generously to the plight of the over 800 million people accepting that the private sector can play ‘a useful role’, living in the LDCs. For it is the financial and trade policies they contend, on the basis of previous experiences of of these rich countries that in recent years have pushed these countries, that the goal of sustainable development millions of these people even deeper into poverty. Taking with equity cannot be realised by relying on the private a longer-term view, the economic policies of the sector and the market alone. Calling for a clear rejection developed countries and the export-led development of the ‘Washington Consensus’, they advocate instead model they promoted among the LDCs surely contributed ‘participative national development strategies that focus in a significant way to the fact that the number of LDCs on each country’s vision and core strengths’. has almost doubled from 25 to 48 in the last four decades. However, while stressing the need for such ‘people- To spur the developed countries to make the centred approaches to development’ as the real alternative, necessary commitments to realise the Brussels goal, UN the civil society groups are also mindful of the need for Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon at the opening of the ‘an effective follow-up strategy’ to LDC-IV to ensure Istanbul conference made an impassioned plea for a results and delivery on the commitments by the developed ‘comprehensive and ambitious Programme of Action for countries. In short, disappointing as the Istanbul sustained economic growth’ in the LDCs. In the event, Programme of Action is, it is essential to hold the rich the new Programme of Action that emerged from the countries to account on the pledges they have made, weak conclusion of the conference on 13 May was anything as these are. but ‘comprehensive and ambitious’. Our cover story for this issue focuses on the UN The LDC leaders came to Istanbul expecting a LDC-IV conference. While providing a broad analysis significant increase in official development aid. To their of its disappointing outcome, we specially highlight the disappointment, the Istanbul Programme of Action criticism by the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) merely stated that those countries already providing more of the Istanbul Programme of Action. Taking up civil than 0.20% of their gross national product (GNP) as aid society’s concern about the ‘repackaging’ of economic to LDCs will continue to do so; those which have met liberalisation in the Programme of Action, we also carry the 0.15% target will undertake to reach 0.20%; and others a report on a high-level thematic debate at the conference which have committed themselves to the 0.15% target where the related policy of trade liberalisation came under will either achieve the target by 2015 or try their best to fire. Finally, as part of the discussion of alternatives, we do so. publish an African view on the need to revisit the concept But more than aid, it was the outcome on trade of the developmental state. that was to prove the most bitter pill to swallow. There had been expectation that the Istanbul conference would result in an advance over a 2005 World Trade Organisation (WTO) decision obliging rich countries to give duty-free status for at least 97% of LDC exports. The hope was – The Editors that this duty-free status could be extended to all LDC Visit the Third World Network Internet website at: products, i.e., 100%. Instead, the developed countries, in www.twnside.org.sg

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 Third World RESURGENCE www.twnside.org.sg No 249 May 11 ISSN 0128-357X UN Photo/Evan Schneider

The Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (pic), which was held in Istanbul on 9-13 May, produced disappointingly little in the way of commitments to support the world’s poorest nations. 8

ECOLOGY Istanbul Declaration, no new WOMEN aid pledged – Sanya Smith 2 It’s time to listen to nature – 13 Trade liberalisation criticised 37 Stateless refugee mothers fall Pablo Solón in LDC Conference panel – through the cracks in Bangla- 3 Controversial dams approved Sanya Smith desh – Misha Hussain in Patagonia, Chile 18 South-South axis strengthens 39 South Africa: Women’s issues – Sanjay Suri missing from election manifes- CLIMATE CHANGE 19 ‘Our voices have not been tos – Zukiswa Zimela heard...’ 4 Neck deep in the Big Muddy – 23 The rural roots of poverty and VIEWPOINT Glenn Scherer hunger in LDCs – Johannes Reichert ECONOMICS 25 The African state must be 40 Marriage of novelty with back in the saddle – Cornelius nostalgia – Jeremy Seabrook 5 Egypt should not take a new Adedze IMF loan – Rick Rowden MEDIA WORLD AFFAIRS COVER 42 Media complicit in rise of 27 No exit: Yemen’s existential xenophobia in Europe – Rich countries fail the crisis – Sheila Carapico Zoltán Dujisin world’s poorest 32 The Nakba protests: A taste of the future – Jonathan Cook POETRY 8 Helping the world’s poorest 34 Narco violence in Mexico: countries – Martin Khor Eight theses and many ques- 44 Gitanjali 55 – Rabindranath 10 LDC Conference adopts tions – Paco Ignacio Taibo II Tagore

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE is pub- Publisher and Chief Editor: S.M. lished by the Third World Network, an in- lished monthly by Third World Network, 131 Mohamed Idris; Managing Editor: Chee ternational network of groups and individu- Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Yoke Ling; Editors: T Rajamoorthy, als involved in efforts to bring about a Tel: 60-4-2266728 Fax: 60-4-2264505. Evelyne Hong, Lean Ka-Min; Contribut- greater articulation of the needs and rights Email: [email protected] ing Editors: Roberto Bissio (Uruguay), of peoples in the Third World; a fair distri- Printed by Jutaprint, No. 2, Solok Sungai Charles Abugre (Ghana); Staff: Linda Ooi bution of world resources; and forms of de- Pinang 3, 11600 Penang, Malaysia. (Design), Lim Jee Yuan (Art Consultant), velopment which are ecologically sustain- Cover Design: Lim Jee Yuan Lim Beng Tuan (Marketing), Yap Bing Nyi able and fulfil human needs. Copyright © Third World Network (Editorial) THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 1 E C O L O G Y It’s time to listen to nature Why should we only respect the laws of human beings and not those of nature, asks Bolivia’s UN representative Pablo Solón?

VICTOR Hugo, the author of Les vironmental goods. Misérables, once wrote: ‘How sad Humanity finds itself at a to think that nature speaks and crossroads: Why should we only mankind doesn’t listen.’ respect the laws of human beings We are here today to attempt and not those of nature? Why do to have a dialogue not just among we call the person who kills his states, but also with nature. Al- neighbour a criminal, but not he though we often forget it, human who extinguishes a species or con- beings are a force in nature. In re- taminates a river? Why do we ality, we are all a product of the judge the life of human beings with same Big Bang that created the uni- parameters different from those verse, although some only see that guide the life of the system as wood for the fire when they walk a whole if all of us, absolutely all through the forest. of us, rely on the life of the Earth These three questions are the System? point of departure for our discus- Is there no contradiction in sion today: recognising only the rights of the First, what is nature? Is it a human part of this system while all thing, a source of resources, a sys- the rest of the system is reduced to tem, a home, a community of liv- a source of resources and raw ma- ing and interdependent beings? terials – in other words, a business Second, are there rules in na- opportunity? ture? Are there natural laws that ‘Nature cannot be submitted to the will of the To speak of equilibrium is to govern its integrity, interrelation- laboratory.’ speak of rights for all parts of the ships, reproduction and transfor- system. It could be that these rights mation? tion of water, the pollination of plants are not identical for all things, since And third, are we as states and as by bees, the protection of coral reefs not all things are equal. But to think a society recognising, respecting and and climatic regulation. that only humans should enjoy privi- making sure that the rules of nature According to the green economy, leges while other living things are prevail? we have to identify the specific func- simply objects is the worst mistake The philosopher Francis Bacon tions of ecosystems and biodiversity humanity has ever made. Decades said that we cannot command nature that can be made subject to a mon- ago, to talk about slaves as having the except by obeying her. The time for etary value, evaluate their current same rights as everyone else seemed superheroes and superpowers is com- state, define the limits of those serv- like the same heresy that it is now to ing to an end. Nature cannot be sub- ices, and set out in economic terms talk about glaciers or rivers or trees mitted to the will of the laboratory. the cost of their conservation to de- as having rights. Science and technology are capable velop a market for environmental Nature is ruthless when it goes of everything, including destroying services. ignored. the world itself. For the green economy, capital- It is incredible that it is easier to It is time to stop and reaffirm the ism’s mistake is not having fully in- imagine the destruction of nature than precautionary principle in the face of corporated nature as part of capital. to dream about overthrowing capital- ism. geo-engineering and all artificial ma- That is why its central proposal is to Albert Einstein said, ‘The world nipulation of the climate. All new create ‘environmentally friendly’ business and green jobs and in that is a dangerous place, not because of technologies should be evaluated to those who do evil, but because of gauge their environmental, social and way limit environmental degradation by bringing the laws of capitalism to those who look on and do nothing.’ economic impacts. The answer for the We have not come here to watch future lies not in scientific inventions bear on nature. a funeral. u but in our capacity to listen to nature. In other words, the transfusion of The green economy considers it the rules of market will save nature. The above is the text of a speech by Ambassador necessary, in the struggle to preserve This is not a hypothetical debate, Pablo Solón, Permanent Representative of the since the third round of negotiations Plurinational State of Bolivia to the United Nations, biodiversity, to put a price on the free delivered on the occasion of the UN General services that plants, animals and eco- of the World Trade Organisation will Assembly Interactive Dialogue on Harmony with systems offer humanity: the purifica- be about the trade in services and en- Nature in New York on 20 April.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 2 E C O L O G Y Controversial dams approved in Patagonia, Chile Ignoring strong international and local opposition, the authorities have decided to proceed with a major dam project in southern Chile despite the huge environmental, social and economic costs involved.

A FIVE-dam hydroelectric scheme that locals fear will destroy the char- acter of one of Chile’s most impor- tant wild regions was approved on 9 May by the Aysén Environmental Re- view Commission with a vote of 11 in favour and one opposed. Critics say the approval process for the HidroAysén project has been marred by a flawed Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and serious con- flicts of interest on the part of Com- mission members. The project has been the target of a local and international campaign A protester carrying a Chilean flag emblazoned with the words ‘Patagonia Without that for five years has been fighting Dams’ during a demonstration against the HidroAysén project. to keep Patagonia’s rivers free of dams. A recent poll found that over 61% of Chileans are against the Countrywide protests on 9 May Latin America Programme Associate project. and on 26 April confirm that the cam- at the non-governmental organisation Patricio Rodrigo, Executive Sec- paign for a Patagonia Sin Represas International Rivers. ‘Numerous stud- retary of the Council in Defence of (Patagonia Without Dams) is gaining ies have shown that Chile can Patagonia, says that Chileans will not momentum, despite a multimillion- sustainably and safely meet its energy give up. ‘We are outraged that the re- dollar scare tactic campaign by needs through increased investments gional environmental review commis- HidroAysén this year. in non-conventional renewable en- sion has approved this destructive and Whether or not President Piñera ergy and energy efficiency, with less illegal project against the will of the overturns the HidroAysén dams ap- environmental, social and economic majority of Chileans. We are calling proval, the fight to stop this project is costs than HidroAysén.’ on President [Sebastian] Piñera to far from over. The next phase is the The HidroAysén project would overturn this decision and protect Environmental Impact Assessment include five dams – three on the Patagonia.’ for the $3.8 billion, 2,300-km-long Pascua River and two on the Baker On 6 May, conflict-of-interest transmission lines needed to export River – that would flood at least 5,600 charges were filed against members the electricity from Patagonia to the hectares of globally rare forest eco- of the Environmental Review Com- Chilean capital Santiago. The EIA systems, river valleys and farmlands mission, including regional Governor process for the lines will likely prove in the Aysén region of southern Chile, Pilar Cuevas and other representa- to be even more difficult, as they including a portion of the Laguna San tives. On 9 May morning, the charges would affect thousands of Chileans Rafael National Park. With the dams’ against the representatives were ac- and require the world’s longest price tag rising – they are now ex- cepted, but an injunction on the day’s clearcut through virgin rainforest, pro- pected to cost approximately $3.2 bil- vote was not granted. Several Com- tected areas, national parks, and a geo- lion – the total cost, including trans- mission members had already recused logically risky region strewn with ac- mission lines, is estimated to be $7 themselves from the vote due to con- tive volcanoes and afflicted by earth- billion. The project is being developed flicts of interest, including the re- quakes. by Enel of Italy and Colbún of Chile. gional housing representative, re- ‘The HidroAysén dams are a Financing is expected to come mainly gional environmental representative, risky investment for Chile and would from private investment banks in regional energy minister, and the min- threaten a region of global signifi- Chile, the US and Europe. – Interna- ing representative. cance,’ said Berklee Lowrey-Evans, tional Rivers ÿu

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 3 C L I M A T E C H A N G E Climate change: Neck deep in the Big Muddy Even as the US continues to be ravaged by the effects of climate change, it is still in a state of denial, says Glenn Scherer.

THE Mississippi River has prices are breaking risen to levels never seen records now due to chang- in US history – lapping ing climate. levee tops and threatening Still, we’re a nation cities and hamlets from with its head in the sand. Memphis to the Gulf. Worse, like a drug addict Floodwaters cover an area whose connection just got bigger than Connecticut, popped, we’re sniffing out the result of a record 90 fossil fuel under every inches of precipitation in rock; raping the Canadian the Midwest. tar sands; readying drilling Some would point an platforms in Arctic seas accusatory finger at hu- and Gulf deepwater; and man-caused global warm- turning vast swathes of ru- ing. But as any climatolo- Record flooding in the Mississippi River region points to the ral America into a pincush- gist will tell you, no single impact of climate change in the US. ion of drilling rigs fracked weather event is attribut- for natural gas. able to global warming. skeptic will scold you, no one weather This spring, President Obama Meanwhile, Texas is in flames. It event can ever be seen to be the re- even called for an enormous expan- has endured the seven driest months sult of human-caused climate change. sion of the dirtiest, most polluting in- on record, with drought parching 98% Go out in your backyard, stick a dustry of all. Under his plan, new coal of the Lone Star state. No one has ever thumb up in the air or look at what’s mines will increase US climate seen the like of it, with 2.2 million blooming today, and you’ll likely change emissions by over 50% be- acres already scorched black by know. The times are a-changin’ – fast. yond what we’re producing currently. wildfires. Your community and mine are hotter, Damn the risks. We need our en- Of course, as any Obama admin- drier or wetter, with nastier storms ergy fix! istration official will gladly testify, no than you or your grandparents ever Meantime, the Mississippi rolls one weather event can be traced back saw. on. ‘We’ve never seen anything like to climate change. But as any Fox News anchor this. I was scared not knowing what’s Out West, record snowpack, a will assert, no single weather event staggering 200% above normal, has going to happen or where we can go can ever be seen as being the product from here,’ said flood victim Tamara brought severe flood risks to Utah, of human-caused climate change. Wyoming, and Montana. While east- Jenkins of Frayser, Tennessee, talk- But, how about thousands of ing to CNN. ern Colorado, New Mexico and Ari- weather events? Shattered heat zona are enduring drought and gear- Well, Ms. Jenkins, you may be records. Drought records. Deluge neck deep in the Big Muddy and not ing up for an equally severe fire sea- records. Winters grown milder and son. know what’s going to happen next. shorter. Summers grown longer and But the fossil fuel industry, our presi- Of course, as any freshman Tea brutally hot. Icecaps melting, ice Party Congressman will insist, no one dent and Congress do. They have shelves collapsing, glaciers in gallop- weather event can ever be said to be complete confidence in our business- created by human-caused climate ing retreat. It’s exactly what climate as-usual energy policy, and say we change. modellers began forecasting two dec- should push on. And who can forget April, when ades ago. After all, Ms. Jenkins, every damn 312 tornadoes smashed the Southeast, Except, the scientists told us then fool knows that no single flood of bib- with a record-setting 228 twisters these sorts of catastrophes wouldn’t lical proportions can be attributed to spawned in a single day? Some of hammer us until 2050 or later. Hell, human-caused climate change. Just those killer funnel clouds were a mile Greenland wasn’t supposed to melt ask Noah. ÿu wide and stayed on the ground across significantly until after 2100, but it is several states. melting significantly now. Global Glenn Scherer is senior editor of Blue Ridge Press Of course, as any Exxon or Koch coral reefs are dying now, global food in the US. This article is reproduced from brothers-funded climate change harvests are in decline now, and food CommonDreams.org.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 4 E C O N O M I C S Egypt should not take a new IMF loan There is no doubt Egypt needs external financing, but it should resist an IMF loan. The IMF’s rhetoric may have changed slightly after the global financial crisis, but there is no evidence that it has abandoned its core fundamental tenets.

Rick Rowden

EGYPT should do as many Latin American and East Asian emerging market economies have done in recent years and purposefully avoid con- tracting another harmful loan pro- gramme from the International Mon- etary Fund (IMF). As several of these countries learned the hard way over many years, the IMF is not a friendly development institution, nor an objective fireman ready to help put out financial fires. Instead, it acts on behalf of its execu- tive board whose members are di- rected by the US Treasury and the fi- nance ministries of other leading creditor economies, who in turn are Unemployed archaeology graduates demonstrating at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo each under immense lobbying pres- to demand jobs. IMF policy prescriptions could undermine employment growth in Egypt. sure by their respective finance indus- try associations. The IMF’s job is to ensure borrowing countries stay cred- ple, at a conference examining the ally important to the people in the itworthy and repay their foreign credi- pitfalls of IMF orthodoxy in the af- street’ and to address the problems of tors on time. termath of the global economic cri- high unemployment and growing in- In the last 30 years, a massive sis, held at its headquarters in early come inequality. global shift of financial resources has March, Olivier Blanchard, economic occurred from the real sector of na- counsellor and director of the Re- Conservative logic tional economies (where real jobs and search Department at the IMF, ac- goods and services are created) to the knowledged the need for central Yet despite such high-profile talk financial sector (or casino sector) un- banks to be allowed a more flexible of changes, Egyptians should be der the rubric of ‘financial liberalisa- range of monetary policy options and aware that there is no evidence that tion’. The IMF’s priorities are to en- the need for new regulatory policies the IMF has at all shifted from its core force reforms in borrowing countries to ensure ‘macro-prudential’ financial fundamental tenets guiding its eco- that prioritise the short-term needs of regulations for increased global finan- nomic philosophy, its macroeconomic creditors, while subordinating the cial stability. And on 15 April, Egyp- framework and its financial program- needs of those living in the real tian Facebook activist Wael Ghonim ming model. This approach comes economy. Egyptians who would in- got a high-profile concession out of from a very conservative logic stead prefer to prioritise job creation IMF Managing Director Dominique brought into ascendancy by US Presi- should make no mistake about this Strauss-Kahn at the IMF/World Bank dent Ronald Reagan and UK Prime core function of the institution. meetings in Washington. Strauss- Minister Margaret Thatcher over 30 To be sure, the IMF has changed Kahn responded to claims of prior years ago, which is actually just a its rhetoric in the wake of the global IMF misdeeds in Egypt by saying that value judgment that believes that if financial crisis, and, in Egypt’s case, the IMF indeed must do a better job there is a trade-off it is better to have in the wake of the revolutionary forces of linking its abstract economic and lower GDP, lower employment, lower sweeping the Arab world. For exam- financial indicators with ‘what is re- tax revenues and lower spending than

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 5 E C O N O M I C S to have even moderate inflation or fis- cal deficits. When this logic was introduced it had been widely understood as one very conservative option among an array of other viable policy options. But it has since come to be understood as the one and only ‘prudent’ and ‘sound’ option as taught by the best economics departments at the best universities for the last two or three generations, including to Gamal Mubarak’s ‘technocrats’. However, as Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz recently summarised at the IMF conference in March, ‘The idea that low and stable inflation would lead to a stable real The IMF’s spring meetings in Washington in April. The priorities of the IMF are to economy and to fast economic growth enforce reforms in borrowing countries that prioritise the short-term needs of was never supported by economic creditors. theory or evidence and yet became a central tenet of central bank policy.’ central bank policy. Rather, the ortho- is also very costly in terms of lost Today Egypt should reject this dox approach views stability, growth output and employment. But how orthodoxy and instead maintain its and employment as the hoped-for – high is very high? Some countries freedom to consider a wider range of even presumed – by-products of an have grown for long periods with per- alternative fiscal, monetary, financial inflation-focused approach to mon- sistent inflation of 15-30%.’ Commis- and trade policies, many of which etary policy. Accordingly, the goal of sion member Montek Singh could proactively generate higher Egypt’s monetary policy under an Ahluwalia added: ‘The international GDP growth, more employment, IMF programme is likely to be only financial institutions, the IMF in par- greater tax revenues, and increased for ‘stabilisation’, rather than for ticular, have tended to see public in- public investment as a percentage of achieving higher growth, employment vestment as a short-term stabilisation GDP – all of which will be essential or public investment for development. issue, and failed to grasp its long-term for creating the millions of jobs The approach presumes that once growth consequences. If low-income needed and closing the income gap ‘stabilisation’ is achieved, higher eco- countries are stuck in a low-level over the longer term. nomic growth, employment, and pov- equilibrium, then putting constraints erty reduction will eventually follow on their infrastructure spending may ‘Stabilisation-focused’ policy spontaneously. ensure they never take off.’ Despite such claims by the IMF As the United Nations Depart- Although Gamal Mubarak’s team and its advocates over the last 30 ment of Economic and Social Affairs of ‘technocrats’ put together in 2005 years, the track record has shown that recently said of the IMF approach, to step up reforms then claimed that higher growth and employment are ‘Focusing on inflation and fiscal defi- the IMF macroeconomic policy not automatic by-products of the cits alone reflects too narrow a view would increase growth and create IMF’s ‘stabilisation-focused’ central of stabilisation. Therefore, employment in Egypt, in fact the pri- bank policy. Instead, although the stabilisation needs to be defined more orities of the programme were not at IMF has successfully driven down broadly to include stability of the real all focused on economic growth or inflation to low levels and ‘stabilised’ economy, with smoothened business employment generation. Instead, the many countries, growth rates and cycles and reduced fluctuations of IMF programme had the Egyptian employment rates have been mark- output, investment, employment and Central Bank preparing to adopt a edly lower in these last 30 years than incomes. Achieving such stability of rigid ‘inflation targeting’ policy de- they had been under different ap- the real economy may require larger signed to keep inflation in the low sin- proaches in the previous 30-year pe- fiscal deficits and higher rates of in- gle digits as the exclusive target of riod, and as income inequality has flation than prescribed by the conven- monetary policy, and to subordinate worsened. tional macroeconomic policy mix, es- fiscal policy goals to this objective. Such was also the conclusion of pecially in the face of economic Under this monetary policy, other the high-level 2008 Spence Commis- shocks or natural calamities.’ How- important goals – such as financial sion on Growth and Development ever, despite such concerns, IMF stability, more rapid economic growth when it explained: ‘Very high infla- policy is not likely to allow anything and employment creation – have been tion is clearly damaging to investment of the kind for Egypt if it adopts a new seen as inappropriate direct targets of and growth. Bringing inflation down IMF programme.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 6 E C O N O M I C S

Even though the current Egypt should pursue a level of inflation in Egypt is wider array of essential indus- largely exogenous, coming trial policies as part of a long- from the outside due to in- term development strategy to creased fuel and food prices on build the technological skills global markets, the IMF’s pro- and capacities of its gramme for Egypt as approved workforce and domestic com- from just a year ago had panies. It should adopt insti- planned for Egypt to respond tutions and policies to support to this situation by raising in- the emergence of new indus- terest rates as the main way of tries with publicly-financed getting inflation down. But research and development today Egypt should move be- A factory worker in Mahalla, Egypt. Egypt should pursue (R&D), in acquiring new yond the IMF’s narrow ‘infla- a wider array of industrial policies to build the technologies, with subsidies, tion targeting approach’ to technological skills and capacities of its workforce and temporary trade protection, monetary policy and increase domestic companies. subsidised credit and other the numbers of available mechanisms that had long policy targets to include higher em- curve on actual practice among those been part of the mainstream ployment levels and higher growth countries not dependent on its loan development economics toolkit when rates while also keeping an eye on in- programmes and that were thus free the rich countries were industrialis- flation. If the US Federal Reserve can to experiment with greater policy lati- ing. It should also design its trade and be instructed by the Humphrey- tude. foreign direct investment policies in Hawkins law to maintain both low Egypt should be similarly free to ways that will ensure its workforce inflation and high levels of employ- consider all of its options regarding and domestic companies acquire the ment as goals, then certainly Egypt monetary and fiscal policies and pri- skills, technology and financing they should also be able to adopt similar orities, and not be locked into the need to advance onto the next rung of changes to the Egyptian Central IMF’s preferred ideological the development ladder in terms of Bank’s monetary policy goals and tar- straightjacket. Egypt should have the technological sophistication and inter- gets. policy space to prioritise scaling up national competitiveness. public investment and increasing em- Meaningfully engaging in such a Capital controls ployment to whatever degree it deems developmental approach would be necessary by a new and more repre- forbidden under an IMF programme. To its credit, the IMF has recently sentative government, and not be lim- Instead, if Egypt adopts a new IMF made one notable policy change on ited by policies that reflect the priori- programme, it could well be in store its longstanding opposition to any ties of external creditors. for yet even more years of job-de- kinds of capital controls, in this case Egypt should be able to make use stroying privatisation, premature trade finally issuing an edict that says now of capital controls as a permanent tool liberalisation and restrictive fiscal and certain types of capital controls to pre- in its policy toolbox, not merely as a monetary policies. vent the damage caused by sudden temporary last resort. It should work There is no doubt that Egypt large inflows of foreign capital may with others to renegotiate the General needs emergency external financing be temporarily acceptable, under cer- Agreement on Trade in Services to see it through the temporary eco- tain conditions, and as a last resort. (GATS) and Non-Agricultural Market nomic side-effects of the recent po- In other words, after 30 years the IMF Access (NAMA) arrangements at the litical transformation, but such financ- is begrudgingly conceding there is a World Trade Organisation, as well as ing does not need to come from the role for the state in regulating finance the many free trade agreements IMF. Instead, Egypt should look to its after all. Yet the political and chrono- (FTAs) and bilateral investment trea- regional neighbours and other emerg- logical reality is that nearly a dozen ties (BITs) that all call for sped-up, ing markets – such as Brazil, China or so emerging market economies had premature trade and investment lib- and East Asia – to bridge together the already gone ahead and implemented eralisation. Under many such agree- financing it needs and thereby remain a range of such capital controls over ments, rules stipulate that govern- free to pursue serious development the last two years in efforts to stem ments may not be able to adequately strategies. ÿu such large inflows from global inves- reregulate their financial sectors to tors of the industrialised countries. ensure stability, may not be able to Rick Rowden is the author of The Deadly Ideas of Neoliberalism: How the IMF Has Undermined What is equally noteworthy is that implement capital controls, or use Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS (Zed they did so without having waited for adequate levels of trade protection for Books, 2009). He has assisted on the documentary the IMF to say it was OK. Therefore, their nascent manufacturing indus- We Are Egypt, directed by Lillie Paquette, about the while the belated IMF policy modifi- tries, thus blocking their capacity for history of political change underway in Egypt. This article is reproduced from the Ahram Online website cation is welcomed, it was behind the economic development. (english.ahram.org.eg).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 7 C O V E R Helping the world’s poorest countries Held in Istanbul, Turkey on 9-13 May, a United Nations summit to assist the least developed countries (LDCs) ended with new pledges, but the results were really disappointing.

Martin Khor

THE plight of the world’s poorest countries was the focus of a 9-13 May United Nations summit in Istanbul, attended by almost 50 heads of gov- ernment and hundreds of ministers. There are 48 least developed countries in the world, including 33 in Africa and 14 in the Asia-Pacific region. Their combined population is over 800 million. They are among the poorest billion of the world’s people. In 1971 there were only 25 LDCs, thus their number has almost dou- bled. And only three LDCs have ‘graduated’ to the status of a ‘devel- The Fourth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries represented a missed oping country’. opportunity to obtain pledges from the developed countries to renew and raise their The continuing poverty, poor support for the LDCs. health conditions and high unemploy- ment in the LDCs are thus a great what has happened to the poor coun- to do so; those which have met the source of concern. tries since the last conference a dec- 0.15% target will undertake to reach In the past decade, the LDCs en- ade ago, and to obtain pledges from 0.20%; and others which have com- joyed quite good economic growth the developed countries to renew their mitted themselves to the 0.15% tar- rates. But much of this achievement support for the LDCs. get will either achieve the target by was due to the high prices of the com- Unfortunately, the rich countries 2015 or try their best to do so. modities the LDCs export, rather than were in no mood to renew and raise This weak statement with its any breakthrough in industrial and their commitments. loopholes was rebuked by the civil agricultural development. Many European economies are in society groups attending the Confer- The commodity boom was re- a debt crisis; the US politicians are ence. versed in 2008-9 due to the global obsessed with cutting their govern- ‘The plan of action has no teeth recession, and the LDC economies ment spending and Japan is in emer- and appears to have left the people in dipped. Commodity prices have gency mode following the earthquake LDCs in a worse position than before. picked up again in the past year, but and tsunami. We are appalled and disillusioned,’ this trend could again be reversed if Thus, the rich countries were un- said Arjun Karki, the leader of the the world economy slows down again, willing or unable (or both) to make civil society forum at LDC-IV. which is likely. meaningful pledges on aid. ‘The failure of LDC-IV should Indeed the LDCs are even more mostly be blamed on the developed vulnerable than before to the fluctua- Weak outcome world for failing to commit additional tions of the world economy, and the finances for the LDCs,’ said Thida prospects for both (the global The Istanbul Programme of Ac- Khus, director of Silaka, a Cambodian economy and the LDCs) are anything tion, adopted by the Conference on non-governmental organisation but bright. 13 May, merely stated that those coun- (NGO). The Fourth UN Conference on tries already providing more than Indeed, the Programme of Action the LDCs (dubbed LDC-IV) was thus 0.20% of their gross national product seems to contain more commitments an important opportunity to review (GNP) as aid to LDCs will continue by LDCs to take their own actions

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 8 C O V E R

The continuing poverty, poor health conditions and high unemployment in the LDCs are a great source of concern.

The Istanbul conference produced no new commitment to assist the LDCs with funds or technology to meet the challenges of climate change. than commitments by rich countries to assist them, which is a reversal from previous LDC conferences. For example, climate change is a major issue for LDCs which face in- creased flooding, lower agricultural productivity and other problems. There is no new pledge in the Programme of Action to assist the LDCs with either funds or technology, Shouldering a sack of ‘export quality’ coffee in Uganda. LDCs’ dependence on exports beyond the general principles already of commodities leaves them vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices. made elsewhere. Yet the LDCs have pledged to mainstream national climate change outcome was only to ‘realise timely investments and government procure- adaptation and mitigation actions, and implementation’ of the Hong Kong ment business. integrate these into national develop- decision. However, an advance is that This may overwhelm the small ment plans. This pledge goes beyond the adoption of this at the LDC Con- farms and firms of the LDCs, and what the LDCs have been obliged to ference could pave the way for an make it more difficult for these coun- do at the UN climate convention. ‘early harvest’ of the WTO’s stalled tries to institute development policies, On trade, the most hotly con- Doha Round trade talks, namely, that a fear that was expressed by several tested issue was the provision of duty- this can be implemented even before speakers at a dialogue session on trade free, quota-free market access for the overall Doha talks are completed. issues during the Conference. products of the LDCs. Whatever small gains the LDCs The eventual success of this Con- There was an effort by develop- may get out of this Conference may ference now depends on whether a ing countries in general to make an also be wiped out if they sign on to strong follow-up mechanism is set up free trade agreements they are nego- advance over the World Trade Organi- to monitor and implement the pledges tiating with the European Union. sation (WTO)’s Hong Kong decision that were made in Istanbul in the Pro- In these Economic Partnership of 2005 (which mandates that rich gramme of Action. ÿu countries give duty-free status for at Agreements, the African and Pacific least 97% of LDC products) and to countries (many of which are LDCs) are being asked to cut their tariffs to Martin Khor is Executive Director of the South obtain this commitment for 100% of Centre, an intergovernmental policy think-tank of products. zero for 80% of their imports. They developing countries, and former Director of the Disappointingly, the eventual also have to open up their services, Third World Network.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 9 C O V E R LDC Conference adopts Istanbul Declaration, no new aid pledged The Istanbul conference adopted a declaration which reaffirmed solidarity with the poorest nations, but yielded no fresh development aid commitments for the LDCs.

THE Fourth United Nations Confer- Sanya Smith ‘We are nevertheless pleased that ence on the Least Developed Coun- we maintained various [parts] of the tries (LDC-IV) ended on 13 May with commitments that are still present in the adoption of a political the Istanbul Programme of document, the Istanbul Action,’ said Argentina. It Declaration, as well as the added that in implementing Istanbul Programme of the Programme of Action, Action. the role of developed coun- These outcomes were tries is crucial while the UN achieved after months of system, including the intense and often conten- Bretton Woods institutions, tious negotiations that took are also called upon to sup- place at the United Nations port the LDCs. in New York and contin- It stressed that at the ued to the last day and same time, the developing hours in Istanbul. countries feel proud to be The most disappoint- able to support the LDCs ing aspect of the outcomes through South-South coop- is that no additional aid Turkish Foreign Minister and LDC-IV Chair Ahmet Davutoglu: eration, in the Programme of was pledged for the LDCs. ‘[D]eveloped countries abstained from additional financial Action. ‘In this way, we This fact was recognised commitments in the Conference.’ maintain the specific iden- and remarked upon by the tity of cooperation amongst Turkish Foreign Minister developing countries based Ahmet Davutoglu, who was also the either reducing their aid or diverting on solidarity and respect for national Chair of the Conference, in his con- it to pay for climate change damage, development priorities in every coun- cluding speech. despite their commitments in try. So we look forward to South- The outcome of the Conference UNFCCC [UN Framework Conven- South cooperation to give added value was heavily criticised by civil soci- tion on Climate Change] negotiations to the Programme of Action.’ ety organisations present at LDC-IV to provide new and additional fund- In particular, said Argentina, ‘we in Istanbul for falling far short in as- ing for climate finance. Current lev- would like to note that partnership for sisting the LDCs. In its final state- els of aid are dwarfed by the mount- development is not a matter of char- ment, the Civil Society Forum said the ing costs of the damage done to LDC ity, we are investing to improve the Conference failed to meet its expec- economies and their people.’ quality of life for human beings and tations as well as the UN General As- future generations. We are talking sembly mandate for LDC-IV. (See the Hard negotiations about remedying the tremendous in- full text of the civil society statement justice that has affected the world for on pp. 19-22.) In the closing plenary session af- many centuries.’ ‘Civil society is frustrated that, ter the adoption of the Istanbul Dec- The representative from the Eu- having caused massive costs in the laration and Programme of Action, ropean Union (EU) expressed their LDCs through financial and food Argentina, on behalf of the develop- satisfaction with the proceedings of speculation, unjust trade rules, illegiti- ing-country Group of 77 (G77) and the conference and the ambitious and mate loans with onerous China, made a closing speech. It re- realistic outcome in the Istanbul Pro- conditionality, and ecological dam- marked that it had been a very hard gramme of Action and Declaration. age, including climate change, the process of negotiations at times and The EU pointed out that it is the larg- developed countries have not even the agreement does not entirely reflect est donor to LDCs and gives full mar- committed to provide more aid to the aspirations that the G77 and China ket access for all products from LDCs LDCs,’ said the statement. and LDCs had had when they began and encourages other countries to do ‘Even worse, many donors are the negotiations. likewise.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 10 C O V E R

In the only other speech by a del- believe a brighter future is possible. development efforts thus far, the Dec- egation upon adoption of the Decla- And Turkey will do everything in its laration underlines the importance of ration and Programme of Action, Aus- power to make it [a] reality. Istanbul gender equality and the empowerment tralia, on behalf of Canada, New Zea- will then be remembered as the place of women to development and eradi- land and Australia, said they sought where the misfortune of 900 million cation of poverty in LDCs. to be constructive partners and will people has taken a positive turn.’ On ODA, the donor countries be serious about implementing it. undertake to fulfil all the ODA com- Istanbul Declaration mitments to LDCs and consider fur- Chair’s statement ther enhancing the resources for The final version of the Istanbul LDCs in the Declaration. Davutoglu, the Turkish Foreign Declaration had not been issued by the Minister and Conference Chair, re- time of the final plenary, but an ad- marked that ‘developed countries ab- vance draft was available. The Dec- stained from additional financial com- laration begins by reaffirming that ‘[W]e need to work mitments in the Conference.’ solidarity and partnership with the together to build a more In his closing statement, the Min- poorest, weakest and most vulnerable ister quoted a famous hadith (com- countries and their people is not only dignified future for the mentaries based on the statements and a moral and ethical imperative, but people of the LDCs.’ actions of the Prophet Muhammad, also an economic and political one considered by Muslims as essential which corresponds to long-term inter- supplements to and clarifications of ests of the international community the Koran): ‘He who sleeps on a full and serves the cause of peace, secu- Productive capacity is prioritised stomach whilst his neighbour goes rity and prosperity for all. in the next decade in the Declaration, hungry is not one of us.’ It recognises that not all the ob- which in this regard: underscores the He then announced that Turkey jectives and goals set out in the last importance of reliable and affordable will make available a total of $200 Programme of Action (adopted by infrastructure services; recognises the million annually to LDCs, starting in the Third UN LDC Conference held importance of mobilisation of finan- 2012, for technical cooperation in Brussels in 2001) have been fully cial resources including ODA and for- projects and programmes as well as achieved and commits to implement- eign direct investment; underscores scholarships. ing the Istanbul Programme of Ac- how essential sustainable agriculture According to the Minister, Tur- tion. focusing on small-scale farmers is to key’s current investments in LDCs are The Declaration expresses deep achieving food security; acknowl- almost $2 billion and it aims to in- concern that the ongoing impacts of edges the potential of regional eco- crease this level of direct investment the economic and financial crisis as nomic integration and undertakes to in LDCs, particularly from its private well as the volatile energy and food promote access of LDCs to knowl- sector, to a total of $5 billion by 2015 prices, problems of food security and edge, information, technology and and $10 billion by 2020. In addition increasing challenges due to climate knowhow and aims to establish a to an International Science, Technol- change, natural disasters and loss of Technology Bank. ogy and Innovation Centre, Turkey is biodiversity are threatening the devel- On trade, the Declaration com- also prepared to host an International opment gains that LDCs have made mits to the timely implementation of Agriculture Centre dedicated to so far. duty-free and quota-free market ac- LDCs. The Istanbul Declaration also rec- cess, on a lasting basis, for all LDCs, The Minister also declared that ognises that LDCs deserve support in consistent with the Hong Kong Min- Turkey will allocate $5 million for the line with their development strategies isterial Declaration adopted by the monitoring of the implementation of to address their development needs in World Trade Organisation in 2005. the Istanbul Programme of Action and a coherent manner in trade, invest- (The Hong Kong Ministerial Decla- that it was ready to host a Mid-Term ment, finance, including official de- ration agrees that developed-country Review Conference of the Pro- velopment assistance (ODA) and WTO Members shall, and develop- gramme of Action in 2015. technology. In addition, it recognises ing-country Members declaring them- He concluded by reminding the the need for enhancing the voice and selves in a position to do so should, participants that Turkish President participation of LDCs in relevant provide duty-free and quota-free mar- Abdullah Gul had stated in his open- multilateral institutions and interna- ket access on a lasting basis, for all ing remarks that a world that toler- tional fora. products originating from all LDCs ates extreme inequalities is not a The Istanbul Declaration under- by 2008 or no later than the start of world built upon shared values and scores that ownership, leadership and the implementation period. It allows objectives. ‘Thus, we need to work primary responsibility for develop- Members facing difficulties at this together to build a more dignified fu- ment in LDCs rest with the LDCs time to provide 100% market access ture for the people of the LDCs ... We themselves. After recognising LDCs’ to provide duty-free and quota-free

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 11 C O V E R

market access for at least 97% of products originating from LDCs by The Management of Capital Flows in Asia 2008 or no later than the start of the implementation period.) Edited by Yilmaz Akyüz The Istanbul Declaration also commits to ensuring that preferential THE 1997 Asian financial crisis brought home rules of origin applied to products to the region’s economies the importance of from LDCs are simple, transparent managing capital flows in order to avert and predictable and contribute to fa- financial shocks. This book looks into whether cilitating market access. and how this lesson was taken on board by policy makers in Asia, and, accordingly, how New innovative financing capital account regimes in the region evolved mechanisms are voluntary and should in the post-crisis period. not be a substitute for traditional The early years of the new millennium saw sources of finance and should be dis- a strong surge of capital flows into Asian emerging markets amid conditions of ample bursed in accordance with LDCs’ pri- global liquidity. In response to the influx of orities and not unduly burden them, funds, these countries generally chose to keep according to the Declaration. their capital accounts open to inflows, dealing On climate change, the Declara- with the attendant impacts by liberalizing resident outflows and accumulating foreign tion shares the aim of strengthening exchange reserves. While this approach enabled ISBN: 978-967-5412-50-9 240pp LDC capacity to adapt to and miti- them to avoid unsustainable currency 16.5 cm x 24 cm Year: 2011 gate climate change, bearing in mind appreciations and external deficits, it did not Network research project on the provisions of the UNFCCC. It prevent the emergence of asset, credit and financial policies in Asia – investment bubbles and domestic market examines the above notes that mobilisation and provision vulnerability to external financial shocks – as developments in relation to the of additional, adequate and predict- the events following the 2007 subprime crisis region in general and to four able financial resources are necessary would prove. major Asian developing to address LDCs’ adaptation and miti- This book – a compilation of papers written economies: China, India, in 2008 for the first phase of a Third World Malaysia and Thailand. gation needs. It welcomes the deci- sion to establish the Green Climate Fund and underscores the need for Price Postage Malaysia RM30.00 RM2.00 the access of the LDCs to appro- Third World countries US$14.00 US$6.00 (air); US$3.00 (sea) priate, affordable and clean technolo- Other foreign countries US$20.00 US$8.00 (air); US$3.00 (sea) gies that foster their sustained eco- Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. nomic growth and sustainable devel- Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, opment. UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order The 48 LDCs have a combined in own currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate population of 880 million and only equivalent of US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. three countries have graduated from Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international being LDCs. The Declaration com- money order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ mits to assisting LDCs to enable half rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. of them to meet the criteria for gradu- All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., ation from LDC status. It also prom- 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; ises to work on developing and im- Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twnside.org.sg plementing smooth transition strate- I would like to order ...... copy/copies of The Management of Capital Flows gies for graduating and graduated in Asia. LDCs. The Declaration acknowledges I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. the role of parliaments and the private Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: sector and calls on civil society to American Express Visa Mastercard enhance their roles in the develop- ment efforts of LDCs and takes note A/c No.: Expiry date: of the civil society declaration of the Conference. ÿu Signature:

Sanya Smith is a researcher with the Third World Name: Network. The above is extracted from an article which first appeared in the South-North Address: Development Monitor (SUNS, No. 7151, 17 May 2011) published by TWN.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 12 C O V E R Trade liberalisation criticised in LDC Conference panel Enabling the LDCs to harness the development potential of trade was the subject of a high-level session at the Istanbul conference. Sanya Smith reports on the discussions which took place.

EXCESSIVE trade liberalisation was criticised as being damaging to the economies of the least developed countries (LDCs) by participants at an official high-level thematic debate on trade at the United Nations LDC-IV Conference. President Rupiah Bwezani Banda of the Republic of Zambia, who gave a keynote speech, also criticised the lack of a positive response from the European Union to African demands in the Economic Partnership Agree- ment negotiations. He and other panellists called for an early harvest for LDC issues in the stalled Doha Round talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Cargo being loaded onto a ship in Benin. There is a need to remove barriers that still impede LDCs from participating in world trade. WTO Director-General Pascal Lamy called for political will, but sur- prisingly stopped short of asking del- egates to take measures to conclude and Camille Chalmers (Leader, Hai- He invited LDCs and multilateral the Doha Round. tian Platform for an Alternative De- institutions such as the WTO to con- The high-level interactive the- velopment). sider the following questions: what matic debate on harnessing trade for LDC-related concerns have been ad- the LDCs’ development and transfor- Most vulnerable economies dressed/are being addressed at the mation was held on 10 May. multilateral level; what initiatives are It was co-chaired by the Prime Lesotho’s Prime Minister in place to address LDC supply-side Minister of Lesotho, Pakalitha Mosisili began by emphasising that constraints at the multilateral level; Mosisili, and Peter Lilley, a Conserva- LDCs are the most vulnerable econo- and the role that mechanisms such as tive British Member of Parliament mies in the multilateral trading sys- unilateral preferences, regional trade who was Secretary of State for Trade tem and that given the many chal- agreements and South-South coopera- and Industry under Prime Minister lenges they face, they lack a competi- tion can play in expanding LDC trade Margaret Thatcher and is currently co- tive edge in world markets. He high- and strengthening their capacity to chair of Trade Out of Poverty (a cam- lighted the need to harness trade for trade. paign set up by an all-party group of their development and that to do this, Peter Lilley stated that it was UK parliamentarians). efforts should be made to harness its hugely important to remove barriers The keynote speakers were the potential for LDCs. He pointed out that still impede LDCs from partici- Zambian President and Thongloun that most LDCs export raw materials pating in world trade. He noted that Sisoulith (Deputy Prime Minister and and that they remain marginalised in high tariffs remain on the products Minister for Foreign Affairs of the global trade due to supply-side con- that LDCs are best equipped to pro- Lao People’s Democratic Republic). straints. duce. He gave the example of the Panellists included the WTO’s Lamy, His priorities for the discussion United States imposing higher tariffs Martin Khor (Executive Director, included addressing supply-side con- on imports from Cambodia and Bang- South Centre), Martin Tofinga (Presi- straints so that LDCs can diversify ladesh than on those from the UK and dent and Executive Director, Kiribati and shift to higher-value-added pro- France. Lilley pointed out that the US Chamber of Commerce and Industry) duction. gets six times as much money from

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 13 C O V E R tariffs on imports from Lao Deputy Prime Minis- Cambodia and Bangladesh ter Sisoulith pointed out as it gives to those coun- that ‘there is still a lot for tries in aid. So, he said, us to do to ensure that there was a need to get rid trade can really help of those tariffs and sign up LDCs.’ to the Doha commitment to He added that the po- do so as soon as possible. sition of LDCs in the Lilley went on to com- world trade system re- ment on the way in which mains relatively the same rules of origin can be a bar- as 10 years ago, and the rier to trade. He observed problems such as supply- that the US has more gen- side constraints, duty-free, erous rules of origin than quota-free (market access) the EU. This meant that the and other trade-related is- simpler rules of origin in A textile factory in Lesotho. LDCs face the basic problem of sues ‘are the ones that we the US unilateral prefer- inadequate supply capacity which hinders them from taking had tried to address a dec- ences through its African advantage of any market opening. ade ago.’ Growth and Opportunity He was clear that ‘we Act had boosted trade more need to ensure that what than the EU’s Everything But Arms a coherent and practical manner to en- we do and decide today can really preference programme. hance the role of trade in development make a difference when we meet He explained that subsidies dam- and poverty reduction.’ again in 10 years from now and not age exports from LDCs such as cot- He said that development part- to repeat the same problem over again ton and other agricultural products ners needed to go beyond preferen- and again.’ and that they were unnecessary for de- tial market access and invest in mak- After outlining the supply-side, veloped countries. He highlighted the ing LDCs equally competitive. infrastructure and market access prob- importance of giving countries the He said that countries like Zam- lems that Lao PDR faces, he con- capacity to trade, such as infrastruc- bia look forward to an early harvest cluded that what was needed to help ture including roads, ports and rail- in the Doha Development Agenda ne- LDCs benefit from trade included se- ways and the ability to ensure quality gotiations and that the international riously addressing the supply-side etc. community should ensure that the constraints and productive capacity of However, he noted that the pro- Agenda delivers a package on issues LDCs. portion of aid devoted to boosting of concern to LDCs which are fully economic capacity and infrastructure incorporated in the outcomes. Disadvantaged position in developing countries has fallen by On the Economic Partnership two-thirds. Agreement (EPA) negotiations with Martin Khor, Executive Director the EU, he noted that they had reached of the South Centre, noted that many Challenges and constraints a critical stage, yet the concerns of the LDCs have higher ratios of exports African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) to gross national product than some In his keynote address, Zambian countries have not been fully ad- developed countries. ‘It is the way in President Banda noted that many dressed. which the LDCs are integrated in LDCs still face challenges that hinder He noted ways (including aid for trade that has been a disadvantage. the use of preferential market access. trade) in which LDCs’ supply-side LDCs are too dependent on raw ma- He stated that major gaps still remain constraints could be addressed so they terials export, and prices of commodi- with respect to adequacy, appropriate- are not condemned to being perpetual ties have had a long-term trend de- ness and timeliness of this preferen- suppliers of raw materials. cline, thus causing major revenue and tial market access and that notable The President also said that issues income losses for LDCs.’ challenges with this preferential mar- of technology transfer should be fully He pointed out the role of specu- ket access have been stringent rules incorporated to help LDCs respond to lation in the great volatility in com- of origin and burdensome standards the challenges of climate change, and modity prices, since between 2003 requirements. finished by saying that he expected and 2010, the investments in com- The President highlighted the ‘that we shall leave Istanbul with a modity index trading rose from $13 supply-side constraints that LDCs programme that fully addresses the is- billion to $320 billion. Khor then continue to face that impede their ef- sues that have and continue to impede highlighted the serious effects on forts to integrate into global trade and the structural transformation of LDC economies of the volatility of concluded, ‘It is therefore imperative LDCs.’ commodity prices and concluded that that these challenges are addressed in In the second keynote speech, the their fate should not be dependent on

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 14 C O V E R

speculation. eral trade agreements; He proposed, ‘Com- and Aid For Trade re- modity markets should sources focused on therefore be regulated to boosting supply capac- reduce speculative ity of LDCs. This list is forces. The old objective very familiar to you. of stabilising commodity What is required is the prices and ensuring de- political will for an early cent levels should be pur- harvest in case the sued again. And ideally, Round does not con- there should be agree- clude soon,’ Khor said. ments among suppliers He then turned to and consumer countries. the free trade agree- Otherwise, suppliers of ments (FTAs) that LDCs commodities should are negotiating, such as share their experiences A man carrying sacks of rice at a market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Haiti the EPAs between Afri- now imports over 80% of its rice supply from the US as a result of and attempt to align sup- can and Pacific coun- imposed trade liberalisation policies. ply with demand.’ tries and the EU. He said Like the other that ‘LDCs are used to speakers, Khor said that LDCs face LDCs are part of customs unions [a FTAs that are non-reciprocal, such as the basic problem of supply capacity type of regional trade arrangement] the Everything But Arms initiative of which hinders them from taking ad- that also contain non-LDCs, then if the EU. In the EPAs, there is little spe- vantage of any market opening and the non-LDC developing countries cial and differential treatment and the that their exports outside of commodi- have to cut their tariffs, the LDCs will agreements proposed are largely re- ties therefore remain small. also be affected.’ ciprocal.’ He emphasised that it is thus vi- He gave examples of Southern Referring to the Zambian Presi- tal that LDCs be assisted to increase African LDCs affected by tariff reduc- dent’s earlier statement that the re- their capacity to produce in agricul- tion obligations of South Africa, and quirements of developing countries ture, industry and services. They must Kenya in the East African Commu- have not yet been met, Khor said, ‘The be allowed and assisted to grow their nity. LDCs face a dilemma. They do not own food and expand manufacturing, Khor continued, ‘Since it may want a reciprocal deal in which they including through processing and take more time for the Doha negotia- have to open their economies to the manufacturing based on natural re- tions to conclude despite the heroic EU, but they also want to retain the sources. efforts of our Director-General here integrity and operability of their re- [Pascal Lamy], the call by the LDC gional trade agreements with their Damaging liberalisation Group and the President of Zambia neighbours, such as EAC, COMESA, just now for an early harvest for LDCs ECOWAS, SADC, etc. However, the On trade issues, Khor stated that or an early harvest for development European Commission demand in the imports are an important aspect of generally should be supported, includ- EPA is zero tariffs for 80% of prod- trade and that the liberalisation of im- ing at this conference. This is in line ucts. The proposals also include pro- ports before a country is ready can with the Doha mandate that develop- hibition of export restrictions includ- damage local producers. ing countries’ interests are at the cen- ing export taxes, which poses diffi- ‘This is the lesson from the many tre of this Round.’ culties for LDCs that want to process years of structural adjustment pro- ‘Among the early harvest ele- and manufacture their natural re- grammes that LDCs went through, ments can be: duty-free quota-free sources to climb up the value chain. when many LDCs were asked to market access for all products for They include TRIPS-plus elements, lower their applied tariffs far below LDCs; major reduction of cotton sub- and WTO-plus obligations on invest- their WTO bound rates. Many farm- sidies; simplification of rules of ori- ment and government procurement. ers and producers saw their liveli- gin and phasing out of non-tariff bar- All these would severely limit policy hoods damaged. Old structural adjust- riers for developing countries’ prod- space of the LDCs.’ ment programmes have to be adjusted, ucts; progress in services Mode 4 for Khor concluded by proposing including by LDCs,’ he stressed. LDCs; implementing TRIPS and pub- that ‘the LDCs should not be placed With respect to the Doha Round lic health amendment of TRIPS, and in such a terrible dilemma. They negotiations at the WTO, Khor said, amendment of TRIPS to prevent bio- should be allowed to continue to en- ‘In the WTO, it is recognised that piracy; reform of Article 24 of GATT joy non-reciprocal trade preferences LDCs have weak economies and thus to incorporate strong special and dif- such as Everything But Arms. At the need not reduce their bound tariffs in ferential treatment for developing same time, they should also be al- the Doha negotiations. However, if countries in the rules regarding bilat- lowed to maintain or enter into re-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 15 C O V E R gional trade agreements with their people from Kiribati in New Zealand Chalmers concluded that there neighbours that include non-LDC de- and said that the US and the EU was a need to think about the WTO veloping countries. One solution is for should facilitate labour mobility. and FTAs because they continue to be the EU and other developed countries He called for an import substitu- dominated by liberalisation, some- to offer similar non-reciprocal ar- tion strategy to be pursued after rig- times by ultra-liberalisation. rangements with non-LDC African orous analysis of its foreign exchange In the discussion, the US recog- and Pacific countries. The US has implications. Due to the importance nised the supply-side constraint dif- given the African Growth and Oppor- of domestic investors, he said the ficulties faced by LDCs and encour- tunity Act to Africa, a similar gesture policy environment to encourage aged all to look at capacity-building. could be given by the EU re: EPAs.’ them should be strengthened. Tofinga Ambassador Ali Mchumo, Chief The WTO’s Lamy summarised also made an impassioned plea for Executive and Managing Director of the afternoon’s presentations as show- action on climate change, saying that the Common Fund for Commodities, ing that to make trade work for LDC ‘the tides are eating away our shores’, said that in the absence of a Doha development, what is needed is proper their drinking water is getting saltier Round conclusion, there should be an market access and proper domestic and ‘we really do not wish to sink’. early harvest for LDCs. capacity to trade. Oxfam New Zealand’s Executive He explained the state of play in Haitian experience Director Barry Coates then high- three areas of market access: duty-free lighted the difficulties faced by LDCs quota-free, where he noted that this Camille Chalmers of the Haitian when acceding to the WTO. He stated has not yet been granted multilater- Platform for an Alternative Develop- that even industrialised countries do ally to LDCs without conditions; rules ment made a fundamental criticism of not have to do what LDCs are being of origin (which he noted were in the damage caused to Haiti by the lib- asked to do in WTO accession. He many respects as important as tariffs), eralisation policies imposed through said that the WTO purports to be which had also not yet been trans- structural adjustment programmes. based on rules, but in its accession ne- ferred into multilateral, predictable, He explained that Haiti had produced gotiations, those rules tend to be dif- stable disciplines that LDCs would 98% of its grains but was now a net ferent for those acceding. benefit from; and agricultural subsidy food-importing country which im- He noted that early liberalisation elimination or reduction where they ports more than 83% of its annual rice is not good for development and distort the agricultural trade of LDCs from the US. LDCs were asked to agree to WTO- – here, he noted that elimination of According to Chalmers, many plus obligations including prohibiting export subsidies is already on the ta- Haitian farmers could no longer make export subsidies and making commit- ble but that the US, EU and Japanese a living from farming due to the to- ments in service sectors. It is time to agricultural subsidy cuts which are on tally irrational decision to reduce tar- review the WTO General Council the table are linked to the overall com- iffs which had made Haiti the most decision of 2002 on LDC accession pletion of the Doha Round. open economy in the continent. and to insist on measures that would On capacity-building, Lamy He said this obviously had mul- actually provide some right for LDCs claimed there had been a lot of tiple consequences including great to appeal to an objective body if the progress in aid-for-trade funding. He vulnerability in terms of food secu- treatment they are receiving is not concluded that what is needed now is rity, as could be seen dramatically in commensurate with their LDC status. political energy and determination at the riots of 2008, and the increased Brazil emphasised the impor- the international and domestic level. poverty and unemployment in the tance of LDCs in standard-setting and He noted that if an operational countryside led to a greater exodus to that the usual holding of Codex conclusion was to come from the cities which reinforced the situation Alimentarius (food and veterinary day’s discussion, it would be to use there. standards-setting forum of the UN the Istanbul conference to send a clear He noted that the continued trend Food and Agriculture Organisation signal about what should be done in of liberalisation was making it impos- and World Health Organisation) meet- the future, as it did move a number of sible to undertake industrialisation ings in developed countries makes it things forward 10 years ago. and added that it was now necessary impossible for developing countries However, some participants were to break with the dogmas of the Wash- and, above all, LDCs to participate in surprised that he gave a rather low- ington Consensus and recognise the a sustained manner in these organisa- key performance and did not mention damage done to countries. tions. (as he had been expected to do) that Chalmers emphasised the need The result of this is that standards there should be political will to con- for space for independent and sover- are set mostly for the needs and per- clude the Doha Round. eign policies, even if that means se- spective of developed countries (and Martin Tofinga of the Kiribati lective protection to support produc- some developing countries). One al- Chamber of Commerce and Industry tion. He also pointed out that it was ternative proposed by the Brazilian highlighted the importance of sea- an absolute priority to strengthen the delegate would be to concentrate Co- sonal employment programmes for productive capacity of LDCs. dex meetings where the respective

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 16 C O V E R organisations are based. port restrictions in its EPAs and FTAs als on the table oblige some develop- The Brazilian delegate concluded (including with LDCs) and open gov- ing countries to cut their industrial by saying that if the Doha Round can- ernment procurement, including in tariffs by 50-70%, which is really too not be concluded soon, it is not be- LDCs, at the WTO and its FTAs and much. But some developed countries cause anyone is intent on improving EPAs. are requiring tariffs to be further cut market access for the LDCs, but rather Another example of a way to en- to 0% in three major sectors, which because some developed countries are sure that LDCs obtain more of the would mean that prospects for devel- intent on obtaining more market ac- value chain is via maritime cargo shar- opment will be severely compro- cess for themselves. ing arrangements where exports from mised. He concluded by saying that A representative of the Third LDCs are carried on LDC ships rather he hoped developed countries would look at the Doha Round from a de- World Network (TWN) noted that than those from a third country. This velopment perspective, then this there had not been sufficient progress is another practice which the EU seeks Round can have development princi- in the Doha talks in areas of interest to prohibit in its EPAs and FTAs, said ples intact, but not with the present to LDCs such as the elimination of the TWN representative. proposals on the table. trade-distorting cotton subsidies, an Khor of the South Centre, in re- effective safeguard mechanism sponding to interventions from the LDCs’ choice against import surges, a ceiling on the floor, said that Haiti’s import liberali- Green Box agricultural subsidies, full sation had been the wrong kind at the As a conclusion, the co-chair of labour mobility for workers from wrong speed, similar to that in other the panel discussion, Lilley, said that LDCs as the panellist from Kiribati LDCs, and undertaken mainly via In- his Trade Out of Poverty group of par- highlighted, and changes to rules to ternational Monetary Fund and World liamentarians has reached a consen- ensure that LDCs do not have to lib- Bank programmes in the 1980s-1990s sus: it is up to LDCs themselves how eralise as much in any FTA. that led to damage to local producers. far and how fast they should liberal- She gave three examples of the He noted that although the influ- ise. He noted the strength of the in- way in which trade rules can impact ence of these institutions may have fant-industry argument and that devel- on the ability to do value-added diminished somewhat due to multi- oped countries themselves have often processing and move up the value lateral debt relief programmes, the used it, so ‘it would be wrong for us chain. policies and their impact remain. He to deprive developing countries of that Firstly, all industrialised countries therefore concluded that a change in opportunity if they choose.’ except Hong Kong had industrialised the Washington Consensus is needed. Lilley pointed out that if the de- via infant-industry protection. If Khor pointed out that former US veloped countries block exports from LDCs have to remove or lower their President Bill Clinton had apologised LDCs, that is hugely important to tariffs at the WTO (for example, be- to the people of Haiti for the wrong LDCs, but because of the small LDC market, if developed-country exports cause they are in a customs union with kind of policy, such as importing sub- are restricted in LDC markets, that is non-LDCs which have to cut their tar- sidised rice from the US, which not terribly important to rich coun- iffs) or in FTAs/EPAs with developed caused Haiti to change from being tries. Therefore, he concluded that countries, this would make it much self-sufficient in food to depending on rich countries can unconditionally harder to industrialise and diversify imports of US food today. open their markets to LDCs and away from exporting commodities. Khor said, ‘We see that LDCs still should do so. Secondly, the TWN representa- have very low applied tariffs, far be- He said that, whether on the left tive pointed out that another way to low the level allowed at the WTO, and or right of the political spectrum, they achieve value-added processing was that this is a major constraint on the could reach agreement on this. He to use export taxes on raw materials ability to develop productive capac- noted that agreement had been to make the domestically produced ity.’ He asked how a farmer can pro- reached on this in the UK and increas- value-added materials more competi- duce if she/he faces subsidised im- ingly in the EU and he hoped it would tive. ports. He went on to explain the need be in other developed countries. She gave the example of Indone- to stabilise commodity prices at a de- Lilley therefore urged LDCs to sia, which only had 4% of the world cent level. knock on the doors of developed market share of plywood in 1980 but On the Doha Round, Khor said countries and ask them to remove which, after imposing export taxes he supported what Brazil said and that their remaining barriers now. ‘Don’t and bans on raw logs, had achieved the current impasse in the Doha ne- wait for a Doha agreement or reci- 80% of the world market share of ply- gotiations is not because developing procity. Countries can make their wood in less than 10 years. Similarly, countries have not offered enough. He moves unconditionally, unilaterally some experts noted that export taxes said they have made very major con- and immediately and you just need to had been the most important tool in cessions that they have never made demand that they do so.’ ÿu Britain’s industrial development. De- before in the history of the multilat- This article is reproduced from the South-North spite this, the EU seeks to limit or ban eral trading system. Development Monitor (SUNS, No. 7149, 13 May the use of export taxes and other ex- According to Khor, the propos- 2011).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 17 C O V E R South-South axis strengthens While fresh support from the rich countries was largely lacking, the Istanbul meeting did see greater cooperation among the LDCs themselves and between them and the rest of the developing world.

THE glass isn’t exactly half-full, but Sanjay Suri concessional basis, or grants.’ it certainly is not entirely empty ei- That new cooperation was ther. Within the broad failure of the strongly confirmed and strengthened week-long Fourth UN Confer- at the Istanbul conference, ence on the Least Developed Dembele said. ‘We would like to Countries (LDC-IV) in Istanbul, push for greater South-South co- many delegates are taking heart operation because in our opinion in a strengthening South-South it’s one way for LDCs to have front that has emerged. more political autonomy to de- That front failed to secure a sign their own policies and for- trade agreement to the satisfac- mulate their own priorities, and tion of the LDCs. But delegates to implement policies that are in say the very act of joint and uni- the best interests of their citi- fied negotiations by the group has zens.’ put them in a stronger position A Chinese foreman at a construction site in Guinea- A clear sign of progress is for bargaining in the years ahead. Bissau. Developing countries like China, India and what is not taking place, or at the There was no hiding the dis- Brazil are strengthening economic and political least not being so confidently appointment over the conference, relations with Africa. pushed, to corner the LDCs. though. ‘We were looking for a bold, achievement in terms of building and Prime among these are the Economic forward-looking and ambitious pro- strengthening the LDC group as a po- Partnership Agreements (EPAs) that gramme of action,’ Arjun Karki, chair litical bloc.’ the European Union (EU) has been of the LDC-IV Civil Society Forum, The partnership between the seeking with many of the African, told Inter Press Service (IPS). ‘We LDCs and civil society has really im- Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) coun- thought member states would learn proved, Karki said. ‘So we can work tries. The EU has succeeded in forc- from the past three conference fail- together as a political group and as a ing Papua New Guinea and Fiji al- ures.’ pressure group in days to come so that ready to sign such deals. The LDC Conference, organised our voices are heard by key develop- There is widespread unanimity through the UN, is held every 10 ment voices who make policies and among the poor countries against such years. That gives countries a lot of programmes.’ agreements that can be seriously dam- time to prepare progressive policies There are deeper gains that oth- aging to LDC economies in the long run. The new South-South front is a for the LDCs – and then just a week ers point to, even if these did not show bulwark against such agreements, to give expression to them. The de- by way of a deliverable new trade deal says Dembele. for the LDCs. veloped world largely failed, despite ‘The EU wanted to force these progress at this conference on some ‘South-South [cooperation] is re- agreements on Africa in 2007,’ counts. ally picking up speed because the lat- Dembele said. The EU is easing pres- ‘We had really been looking for a est UNCTAD [United Nations Con- sure now ‘because the EU is seeing new aid architecture for the LDCs,’ ference on Trade and Development] the South-South connection becom- said Karki. ‘The present structure is report for the least developed coun- ing stronger and stronger, especially not really helping LDCs. That is based tries for 2010 says the South is now through China, India and Brazil. on the principle of market fundamen- the major market for LDC exports,’ These three have very deep financial talism and neoliberal policies that have Demba Moussa Dembele, chairperson and political relations with Africa. privatised profits and nationalised of LDC Watch, told IPS. And so the EU is afraid of losing its losses.’ ‘Most foreign direct investment backyard, economically speaking.’ But looking at the silver lining, received by LDCs comes from the For the LDCs, this means an im- Karki said, ‘we are also encouraged South,’ he said. ‘Not only in terms of portant new path, he says. ‘For 500 by the political spirit of the LDC mem- financial resources but technology years and more we have been mis- ber states. They are working unified, transfer. The emerging companies are treated by Europe. This South-South very close together, and they tried to becoming major players in the LDCs’ cooperation is fresh air for us. It is defend their interests until the very last economies. And loans given by excellent for our liberation – if of minute. So there is some political emerging economies are mostly on a course we use it wisely.’ – IPS ÿÿÿu

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 18 C O V E R ‘Our voices have not been heard...’ Civil society activists have decried the failure of LDC-IV to fundamentally address the economic relations perpetuating the marginalisation of the LDCs. The following Istanbul Declaration of the Civil Society Forum held in conjunction with LDC-IV expresses their deep disappointment.

1. WE, representatives of civil soci- ety organisations, who have met here in Istanbul on 7-13 May 2011 at the Civil Society Forum of the Fourth United Nations Conference on the LDCs, have very much appreciated the opportunities throughout this UN Photo/Evan Schneider process to express our views on the challenges to LDCs and the develop- ment of the Istanbul Programme of Action and the Istanbul Political Dec- laration. 2. However, it is with deep dis- appointment that, at the conclusion of this process, it is clear our voices have not been heard and reflected in the conference outcomes. The negotia- tions started with analyses of the fail- ings of the Brussels Programme of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon addressing the LDC-IV Civil Society Forum. The Action, also reflected in UNCTAD’s Forum voiced its dismay at the weak outcome of the Istanbul conference. LDC report 2010. These showed that development partners failed to deliver changed. Our calls echoed proposals tential and hopes for a better future. their commitments to provide ad- for a New International Support Ar- In many ways, our societies are the equate aid, reform unjust trade rules, chitecture, and gone further in call- most developed countries, not the remove the burden of debt and build ing for a more fundamental transfor- least developed. the capacity of LDCs. mation of the relations between rich 6. But the LDCs are economi- 3. More importantly, various and poor, powerful and powerless, cally disadvantaged, exploited and analyses also pointed to flaws and men and women, the elites and those marginalised. As part of the prepara- shortcomings of the model of devel- without resources, the dominant and tion for this conference, civil society opment promoted by dominant play- the marginalised. We have urged for engaged in an extensive process of ers in the international community. this conference to mark a turning listening to the concerns of the peo- Export-led growth has been inequita- point towards a more just, more equi- ple in the LDCs through local, na- ble and unsustainable, resulting in table and more sustainable world. We tional and regional consultations in LDC commodity dependency, de-in- are deeply disappointed that the Istan- Africa, Asia and the Pacific. These dustrialisation, environmental dam- bul Programme of Action has failed highlighted the greater burdens that age and socio-economic to meet these challenges. the marginalised and vulnerable peo- marginalisation. These failures and 5. We strongly believe that it is ples of LDCs have had to face in the the flawed paradigm have contributed important to base development on last decade, with new crises of food, to the growth in LDCs from 24 to 48, LDCs’ strengths and not on their water and energy, the impacts of the and graduation of only three LDCs weaknesses. Countries may be cat- financial crisis, and the intensification over the last three decades. More than egorised as ‘poor’ according to UN of the climate crisis. There is deep fear half the women and men in LDCs still criteria, but they are rich in many im- over an uncertain future even as there live in abject poverty. There is wide- portant aspects – in community co- is determination to survive. spread violation of human rights. So- hesion, in natural resources and be- 7. The conference has failed to cial justice and peace have remained ing able to live in harmony with our meet our expectations and the UN a dream. natural world, in diverse cultures and General Assembly [UNGA] mandate. 4. From the beginning we stated in human dignity. And especially in The UN General Assembly Resolu- clearly that this is unacceptable. The the growing numbers of young tion A/RES/63/227 calls on govern- development paradigm must be women and men who have huge po- ments ‘to mobilise additional interna-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 19 C O V E R tional support measures and action in favour of the least developed coun- tries, and, in this regard, to formulate and adopt a renewed partnership be- tween the least developed countries and their development partners’. This has not happened. Civil society is frustrated that, having caused massive costs in the LDCs through financial and food speculation, unjust trade rules, illegitimate loans with onerous conditionality, and ecological dam- age, including climate change, the developed countries have not even committed to provide more aid to LDCs. Even worse, many donors are Education is crucial for citizens of LDCs to be able to participate fully in economic, either reducing their aid or diverting social and political life. it to pay for climate change damage, despite their commitments in numbers of young people through in- tor in the forms of guarantees, invest- UNFCCC negotiations to provide clusive policies that capture more ment promotion schemes and incen- new and additional funding for cli- value from resources, diversify the tives. But these subsidies hand over mate finance. Current levels of aid are economy and build on the strengths public money to the private sector in dwarfed by the mounting costs of the of LDCs. We also welcome the rec- the hope that the market will deliver damage done to LDC economies and ognition that governments need to public benefits. International experi- their people. lead the development process, not ence with public-private partnerships 8. We recognise the strong efforts donors or the private sector, and we demonstrates the need to avoid the of LDC governments and the Turkish welcome the establishment of a tech- public sector paying for the costs government to develop tangible com- nology bank. while the companies reap the profits. mitments in the Programme of Action, 10. But the approach adopted in Funds needed to overcome poverty but the UNGA resolution’s call for a the Programme of Action relies heav- and injustice, including education, renewed partnership has been under- ily on economic liberalisation health care, water and sanitation, gen- mined by the developed countries sys- repackaged in new ways. Market-led der equity, social inclusion and com- tematically having removed any tar- approaches have been replaced by munity development are being di- gets, timetables and delivery mecha- private sector-led approaches. The verted to subsidise companies. There nisms that may have been used to hold Programme of Action calls for the re- is grossly insufficient funding now to them to account. They have refused moval of impediments to the private meet the needs of the resource poor, to accept commitments beyond those sector, without recognition that gov- without more being diverted from already agreed in other forums like the ernments need to regulate to protect donors and governments to compa- Millennium Summit, WTO and cli- workers, consumers, the environment nies. Expropriation of the public purse mate change negotiations. And they and local communities. Civil society is unacceptable. have used these negotiations to try to accepts that the private sector can play 12. We are calling for the Istan- drive divisions between developing a useful role, but our experience is of bul consensus to constitute a clear re- countries by calling for some devel- companies that have unsustainably jection of the Washington consensus. oping countries to accept the same exploited minerals, fish and forests; Government policy should be based obligations as developed countries. land grabs that have stolen the re- on participative national development South-South cooperation will be cru- sources and livelihoods of local peo- strategies that focus on each country’s cially important for the future of ple; biofuel plantations that have de- vision and core strengths. We must LDCs, but developing countries need stroyed forests and agricultural lands; build jobs and opportunities for the to contribute according to their com- food dumping that has destroyed sustainable use of our oil, our min- mon aims but differentiated respon- farmers’ livelihoods; and projects that eral wealth, our land, our forests, our sibilities. Support for LDCs from the leave local people with no water and fish and other natural resources, pro- South should complement but not a polluted environment. Intellectuals tecting the rights of traditional own- substitute for the agreed obligations meeting here have reminded us that ers and users of the resources, adding of developed countries. the LDCs must not remain the MECs value and insisting on fair prices. Di- 9. We welcome the attention paid – the most exploited countries. versification of our economies will to enhancing productive capacity in 11. In a number of areas, the Pro- require government leadership to the Programme of Action. This is cru- gramme of Action calls for public fi- build a strong domestic economy, cial to create jobs for the growing nance to be given to the private sec- with particular emphasis on creating

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 20 C O V E R opportunities for cooperatives and social enterprises, small and medium companies and women-led organisa- tions. The rights of vulnerable and marginalised people must be put at the centre of economic decision-making, with stronger mechanisms for trans- parency, integrity and accountability. 13. In particular, LDCs should pursue an environmentally sustain- able and equitable growth strategy that is labour-intensive, that provides decent work opportunities to a wider range of people especially the large numbers of young women and men, coupled with opportunities to gain new skills and improve their liveli- A health clinic in Ethiopia. The need to strengthen health systems and infrastructure hoods. LDC governments should up- and to ensure functional health systems at all levels is critical to achieving the health- hold and guarantee core labour rights, related targets of the Millennium Development Goals. including freedom of association, and prepare national plans for the imple- farming practices so that food sover- women and children who are highly mentation of the ILO [International eignty of LDC people is strengthened. vulnerable to these depravations. Labour Organisation] Global Jobs Agricultural research that builds on Countries must provide access to ba- Pact with the meaningful participation seed diversity and socio-cultural sic services and amenities and ensure of social partners and representative farming practices needs to be sup- effective social security systems for civil society organisations. ported and new and additional finan- migrant workers. International efforts 14. Export-led growth was an cial resources must be mobilised to to combat ongoing incidences of hu- important component of LDCs’ devel- support adaptation and strengthened man trafficking must be stepped up opment strategies in the Brussels Pro- resilience to climate change-related with provisions of severe penalties for gramme of Action, but LDCs still ac- impacts. Agrarian reform policies people who engage in the trafficking count for only around 1% of world must support the needs, strengths and of human beings. exports. A decade ago, there were ex- rights of smallholder farmers, particu- 18. Public investment in human pectations that trade reform would be larly women, and support them to or- development must not be sidelined in possible as part of a Doha Develop- ganise into producer associations or implementation of the Istanbul Pro- ment Agenda. But ‘development’ has cooperatives and to add value to their gramme of Action. Education is cru- been erased from the agenda, and ne- indigenous production systems. cial for citizens of LDCs to be able to gotiations are stuck because of the 16. We urge governments of participate fully in economic, social unwillingness of developed countries LDCs to promote and implement and political life. But formal educa- to agree to reform the major trade dis- women’s rights and gender equality, tion levels remain low in most LDCs. tortions in the system, notably due to and to guarantee in their development Although many LDCs are making inequitable rules on agriculture. Civil strategies the enjoyment by women progress towards the MDG [Millen- society is calling for an end to unjust of their rights, as stated in domestic nium Development Goals] targets for trade agreements and for LDCs to re- laws and international and regionally- primary education, this has not trans- sist efforts by developed countries to agreed standards. Governments must lated into opportunities for continu- negotiate reciprocal trade agreements. ensure the effective participation of ing education at the secondary and Special and Differential Treatment women in the formulation of policies tertiary level. This is essential if young and policy flexibility for LDCs need and decisions, implementation, moni- women and men are to have the skills to be made operational according to toring, follow-up and evaluation of to participate as citizens and as skilled a given country’s stage of develop- strategies aimed at the realisation of contributors to LDC economies. ment (rather than limiting it by time) the Istanbul Programme of Action. 19. Similarly, the need to within the WTO and regional and bi- 17. All countries need to respect strengthen health systems and infra- lateral agreements, so that LDCs can the human rights of migrants, migrant structure and to ensure functional adopt development strategies that re- workers, their children and their other health systems at all levels is critical flect their specific needs and oppor- dependants. The right to ‘movement to achieving the health-related goals tunities. with dignity’ must be ensured. An ef- of the MDGs. Governments need to 15. We call for the promotion of fective regulatory mechanism must be allocate sufficient resources to pro- economically viable, socially accept- set up to prevent sexual exploitation vide the infrastructure, salaries, hu- able and ecologically sustainable and forced labour, particularly for man resources and training for edu-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 21 C O V E R cation, and increase public health ex- Action is urgent to avoid catastrophic 25. An effective follow-up strat- penditure. climate change. The Istanbul target to egy to the UN LDC-IV Conference 20. We call for governments and reduce the numbers of LDCs needs needs to be created, implemented and donors to give a new priority to water to occur because they graduate not monitored. We call for regular reviews and sanitation for all by 2020, and to because they burn or drown due [to] of progress to renew commitments the global Sanitation and Water for All the impacts of climate change. and generate political will. The partnership as a global platform to mechanisms should not only rely on deliver national commitments on sani- UN processes but include civil soci- tation and water. The urban poor are ‘We call for immediate ety, the private sector and other ac- particularly neglected. Service deliv- and unconditional tors. There must be opportunities for ery plans must meet the growing objective assessments of progress, needs for water and sanitation in cit- cancellation of all debts including the submission of reports by ies and towns. The problem is not one of LDCs and a civil society, and mechanisms to hold of water scarcity but of political will. governments, including both LDCs Government needs to develop mecha- moratorium on debt and development partners, to account nisms for social protection to be avail- payments by LDC for their role in fulfilling the aims of able to all citizens, greater account- the Istanbul Declaration. ability for the delivery of all essential governments pending 26. The participants in the Civil services and the adoption of a rights- debt cancellation.’ Society Forum have raised their based approach. Civil society rejects voices and expressed their hopes for the privatisation of essential services the future. They have expressed the under the guise of public-private part- need for immediate and effective fol- nerships or otherwise. 23. We call for more and better low-up to ensure results and delivery 21. We call for immediate and ODA [official development assist- on the commitments made in the Is- unconditional cancellation of all debts ance] which must be directed towards tanbul Programme of Action. The re- of LDCs and a moratorium on debt development effectiveness rather than markable amount of active participa- payments by LDC governments pend- the dominant aid effectiveness ap- tion on the part of civil society, and ing debt cancellation. An international proach. ODA must respect sover- their commitment to continue work- process with counterpart national eignty and support people-owned ing together for various issues long processes should be established, policies and programmes, rather after the conference, demonstrates aimed at a rigorous study of illegiti- [than] being undermined by their interest and ability to influence mate debt, including case studies, in conditionality. Adequate and predict- change. order to come up with policies that able sources of finance are needed, 27. We will continue our work lead to full and unconditional debt such as from a Financial Transactions over the forthcoming decade. We will cancellation and changes in lending Tax levied on the transactions of the educate and raise awareness about the and borrowing policies and practices. major banks and financial institutions. crucial challenges facing LDCs and Immediate changes must be pursued 24. Civil society must be given a the need for people-centred ap- in the practices of lending and bor- stronger role as a partner in develop- proaches to development. We will rowing to move towards sovereign, ment. Real ownership by LDCs of support and mobilise local commu- democratic and responsible financing. their development strategies requires nities and other citizens to challenge 22. Industrialised countries must not only ownership by governments unjust and unsustainable policies and commit to deep, drastic, unconditional but by society as a whole. States need practices. We will play our part in ending the injustice of poverty and cuts in carbon and GHG [greenhouse to have the political space to decide suffering. We will continue to work gas] emissions through domestic on their own development, and strat- collaboratively with those who share egies need to be discussed democrati- measures, to be expressed in interna- our aims. tional, legally binding agreements cally, approved and monitored. In that 28. We conclude by expressing within the Climate Convention that regard, the primary accountability of our thanks for the great contributions contain targets based on science and governments should be to their own from our fellow participants here in equity. The pursuit of false solutions societies and parliaments, not to do- Istanbul; the Civil Society Steering must cease. They also need to com- nors, investors or international agen- Committee; Cheick Sidi Diarra, the mit to obligatory, predictable, condi- cies like the World Bank, IMF or Secretary-General of this conference, tion-free, additional, non-debt-creat- WTO. Civil society should play a key and the staff of UNOHRLLS; Doc- ing public finance to cover the full role in supporting public participation tors Worldwide, host of the Civil So- costs of adaptation in countries of the and should be included as a core part- ciety Forum; LDC Watch, the Gov- South, as well as the costs of shifting ner in all decision-making processes. ernment of Turkey and the people of to sustainable systems – to be part of And governments should create space this lovely city of Istanbul; and the international legally binding agree- for civil society to have an independ- Chair and members of the LDC Glo- ments within the Climate Convention. ent voice. bal Coordination Bureau. ÿu

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 22 C O V E R The rural roots of poverty and hunger in LDCs The Istanbul conference has come under criticism for not adequately tackling the underlying causes of poverty in the LDCs. For one such problem however – a decaying farming sector – the solution may already be at hand: sustainable agriculture.

Johannes Reichert exporters to net food importers within weather events in LDCs increased a decade – the LDCs’ food import bill five-fold from the period 1970-79 to rose from $9 billion in 2002 to $24 2000-10, resulting in over $14 billion IF the Fourth UN Conference on the billion in 2008,’ informs a policy brief losses. Land use changes, forestry and Least Developed Countries (LDC-IV) by the UN Conference on Trade and agriculture account for over 70% of ‘does not look promising at all’, as Development (UNCTAD), titled LDC greenhouse gas emissions. former UN Under-Secretary-General ‘Sustainable agriculture and food se- ‘Environmental degradation, low and High Representative for the curity in LDCs’, released on 11 May. agricultural productivity, high post- LDCs, Ambassador Anwarul K ‘International finance organisa- harvest losses, limited connections to Chowdhury, pointed out bluntly ahead tions and bilateral donors advised sev- markets, energy poverty, limited edu- of the gathering, it is because the root eral LDCs to set up production and cation and non-agricultural opportu- causes of the problems of the world’s export capacity for cash crops. While nities, hunger and thirst lead millions poorest are not being tackled. some countries, such as Tanzania, of desperate people to leave rural ar- Instead of curing root causes of have been successful in this regard, eas each year for the cities, only to poverty and hunger that plague LDCs, this focus often distracted political at- find that life is often no better.’ the focus is on curing symptoms. Pov- tention and crowded out investment To check this vicious circle, ru- erty and hunger are related to each from staple food production and its ral areas in LDCs must be revitalised, other and to environmental degrada- supportive infrastructure and institu- transforming them into vibrant places tion. This is underlined by the fact that tions,’ notes the UNCTAD policy with a clear perspective for families the LDCs are primarily agricultural brief. and young people, UNCTAD advises, economies with nearly 70% of the In addition, post-harvest losses in adding: ‘For this we need a fundamen- population engaged in agriculture. But LDCs are large, with at least one-third tal transformation, even a revolution, the productivity of LDC agriculture of food produced being lost before in agriculture. This revolution should is relatively low. Land degradation is reaching consumers due to spoilage, not be based on expensive, imported a major problem, due to increasing and poor storage and transport facili- external inputs.’ population pressure, erosion, water ties. On-site processing of agricultural The policy brief notes that gov- scarcity and the breakdown of tradi- products is limited by energy poverty; ernments spend large amounts of their tional systems for soil fertility. 92% of rural households in sub-Sa- foreign currency reserves on Nevertheless, farmers have little haran Africa have no electricity. agrochemicals (synthetic fertilisers, support from their governments. In UNCTAD adds: ‘Environmental pesticides, herbicides, fungicides). fact, African countries, which consti- degradation contributes to food inse- LDCs import over 90% of the tute the lion’s share of LDCs, spend curity. Natural ecosystems provide agrochemicals used in agriculture. only 3% of their budget on agricul- most of the world’s poor with food, Many of these chemicals are danger- ture, disproportionate to the size of the fuel, medicine, building materials and ous, with pesticides being a top cause sector in terms of employment and cultural identity. These systems are of occupational mortality and morbid- economic activity. being systematically degraded and ity, and they are difficult to provide Encouraged by the rich devel- destroyed, and their regenerative and to rural farmers at the right time. oped countries who claim to be their strategic productive capacity jeopard- UNCTAD considers it problem- redeemers meanwhile, most LDCs ised. Unsustainable land management atic that the global seed, agrochemical dismantled marketing boards, exten- practices lead to scarcity of water for and biotechnology market is domi- sion services and credit support and both drinking and agriculture. The nated by few companies, with the four opened up agricultural markets to sub- changing climate increases extreme biggest controlling 60% of global sidised exports from developed coun- weather events in LDCs (extreme agrochemical, a third of seed and al- tries some 20 years ago. temperature, floods and droughts) and most 40% of biotechnology supply. ‘This decimated agricultural sec- unpredictable changes in weather pat- The prices of oil and tors and most turned from net food terns that affect agriculture. Extreme agrochemicals are increasing, due to

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 23 C O V E R the increasing price of fossil fuels, and further development of indig- ditional varieties are disappearing used in agrochemicals, and mineral enous varieties, well adapted to local from farmers’ fields worldwide at phosphorous, used in synthetic ferti- conditions and agricultural practices, very high rates, and with them goes liser. The agricultural input index sky- and the associated knowledge,’ says the associated wealth of traditional rocketed just before the first food UNCTAD. knowledge and culture. – IDN- price crisis of 2008. The ratio of food UNCTAD regrets that these tra- InDepthNews u prices to input prices fell steadily over the 2004-2008 period. The Impact of Compost Use on Crop Yields in Tigray, ‘Farmers were not profiting from Ethiopia, 2000-2006 inclusive higher food prices because their in- put prices were increasing much by Sue Edwards, Arefayne Asmelash, Hailu Araya and Tewolde Berhan Gebre faster. In the light of the above, going Egziabher down the high-external-input-depend- In 1996, the Institute for Sustainable Development ent, industrial agriculture route places (ISD) in Ethiopia started a project with the Bureau LDCs in a situation of extreme vul- of Agriculture and Rural Development of Tigray Region to work with local farming communities nerability,’ notes UNCTAD. of smallholder farmers in degraded areas to But there is another way – one rehabilitate their environments and improve that builds upon and gives value to agricultural production based on ecological LDCs’ strengths: sustainable agricul- principles. The project included training the local ture. It focuses on ecological and not experts and farmers to make and use compost in place of chemical fertiliser. The results, which chemical intensification of agricul- have been encouraging, are documented in this tural production. paper. Sustainable agriculture is a pro- In 1998, the Bureau of Agriculture and Rural duction system that sustains the health Development of Tigray Region adopted the of soils, ecosystems and people. It making of compost as part of its extension ISBN: 978-983-2729-91-4 32 pp relies on ecological processes, package. By 2007 at least 25% of the farmers were making and using compost. Between 2003 and biodiversity and cycles adapted to lo- 2006 grain yield for the Region almost doubled. Since 1998, there has also cal conditions, rather than the use of been a steady decrease in the use of chemical fertiliser. inputs with adverse effects. It com- Making and using compost is also being promoted in other regions of bines tradition, innovation and sci- the country. In 2008, the Ministry of Agriculture reported that around two ence to benefit the shared environ- million (16%) of the highland farmers were using compost as part of their ment and promote fair relationships efforts to increase food crop production for food security in Ethiopia. and a good quality of life. Price Postage Research by the UN and numer- Malaysia RM7.00 RM1.00 ous other bodies demonstrates that Third World countries US$4.00 US$2.00 (air); US$1.00 (sea) sustainable agriculture improves food Other foreign countries US$6.00 US$2.00 (air); US$1.00 (sea) supply, nutrition and livelihoods in Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. LDCs. For example, a UNEP (UN Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, UK, USA – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order in own Environment Programme)-UNCTAD currency, US$ or Euro.If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate equivalent of analysis of 114 cases in Africa re- US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. vealed that a shift towards organic Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money agriculture production increased order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If yields by 116%. Moreover the posi- paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. All payments should be made in favour of: THIRD WORLD NETWORK BHD., tive impact endures as it is based on 131 Jalan Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; strengthening the five types of capi- Fax: 60-4-2264505; Email: [email protected]; Website: www.twnside.org.sg tal in farming communities – human, I would like to order ...... copy/copies of The Impact of Compost Use on Crop social, natural, financial and physical. Yields in Tigray, Ethiopia, 2000-2006 inclusive. The policy brief says: ‘Building I enclose the amount of ...... by cheque/bank draft/IMO. strong soils and improving soil fertil- Please charge the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... to my credit card: ity is key to sustainable agricultural American Express Visa Mastercard practices, and increases soil water re- A/c No.: Expiry date: tention and resilience to climatic shocks such as higher temperatures, Signature: droughts, floods and storms.’ Name: ‘Moreover sustainable agricul- Address: ture, with its focus on building ago- ecological systems, promotes the use

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 24 C O V E R The African state must be back in the saddle The LDCs, the majority of which are African, may find resonance in recent calls emanating from the continent for the state to play a central strategic part in economic development.

IN its 2011 Economic Report on Af- Cornelius Adedze state in the African context and based rica, titled Governing Development in on an understanding of country-spe- Africa: The Role of the State in Eco- cific political, economic, social, cul- nomic Transformation, the United retary of ECA, in his opening remarks tural and environmental realities’ Nations Economic Commission for to the experts session of the Addis could help in this regard. Africa (ECA) has joined the ranks of Ababa meeting, did not mince his They concluded, just like ECA’s those calling for a greater role for the words when he suggested the need for Janneh, that: ‘The governance and state in Africa’s development. ‘a renewed discussion of the nuances management of development in Af- Launched during the 4th Joint of the dynamics of the relationship be- rica would need to be informed by Annual Meeting of the African Un- tween an effective, developmental lessons on successful state interven- ion (AU) Conference of Ministers of state and other stakeholders, such as tion from other parts of the world as Economy and Finance and ECA Con- the private sector and civil society or- well as a clear understanding of its ference of African Ministers of Fi- ganisations. It also points to the need limitations given the pitfalls of the nance, Planning and Economic Devel- for clear visions of development paths past.’ opment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and coherent, consistent and coordi- African countries in a return to from 28-29 March, the report makes nated planning frameworks.’ the developmental state will not be the case for the return of the develop- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles doing anything new. Apart from the mental state in Africa and advocates Zenawi in his address also agreed that example of Western economies’ state leadership in the transformation ‘the debate on a new development stimulus package response to the glo- of Africa’s economies. The report says paradigm centred on the concept of a bal crisis, the developed countries that for Africa to overcome its ‘inher- developmental state is welcome and have used the developmental state ent development challenges’, it has to long overdue’ for Africa as it is obvi- model to get to where they are now. have ‘a comprehensive development ous that the neoliberal paradigm From the UK and the US to France, framework that steers social and eco- foisted on Africa, which limited the Germany, Japan and the current gi- nomic policies to work in a comple- role of the state in development, has ants like China, India, South Korea mentary manner.’ failed. For him, ‘the neoliberal para- and Brazil, the developmental state Africa’s earlier attempts to make digm has got Africa’s development was the main driver of their develop- the state the main promoter of devel- wrong both in terms of understand- ment. opment were cut short by the inter- ing the source of the underlying prob- Africa’s economic prospects are vention of the international financial lem and the solution it prescribes’, said to be favourable, with an ex- institutions under the guise of the hence the failure so far by Africa to pected growth rate of 5% in 2011. Washington Consensus, which, develop. This is dependent on agriculture and through structural adjustment pro- commodities but all these are cycli- grammes, called for the withdrawal Economic transformation cal, hence the need for the develop- of state participation in development. mental state that will ensure a com- The state, according to the Washing- The message was also not lost on prehensive development plan that in- ton Consensus mantra, had no busi- the ministers at Addis Ababa, who in volves transformation of the economy ness being in business, and therefore their draft ministerial statement ac- into an industrial, value-addition one. privatisation of even social services knowledged that since ‘market A greater involvement of the state became the cornerstone of the devel- mechanisms alone are not sufficient is needed in such matters as the taxa- opment agenda of African countries. for rapid economic transformation’, tion system, the provision of essen- Enter the global economic crisis and there is the need to ‘rethink the role tial services like good transport sys- then even the developed countries of the state in Africa’s economic trans- tems and reliable energy supply, good with their stimulus packages became formation’. Earlier ‘alternative gov- education and health systems which apostles of the developmental state! ernment-led’ initiatives may also have accompany development. The state Abdoulie Janneh, UN Under- failed but efforts at the ‘characterisa- must also get into strategic industries Secretary-General and Executive Sec- tion of an effective developmental that will pave the way for industriali-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 25 C O V E R sation as envisaged in the early post- independence era. Africa and the developmental state Taking the lead Kwesi W Obeng Edigheji argued. He defined the de- Affirming these measures at one velopmental state as a state that acts of the sessions of the joint AU/ECA purposefully and authoritatively for the FIERCE contestations over the Afri- experts meeting were Emmanuel social good. In effect, the develop- can state have weakened rather than mental state is a state that possesses Nnadozie and Rene Kouassi, respec- strengthened states on the continent ‘developmentalist ideology’. tively Director of Economic Devel- to perform their functions, according He identified some of the key or- opment and NEPAD Division at ECA, to Omano Edigheji from the Human ganisational and technical attributes and Director of Economic Affairs at Sciences Research Centre based in of the developmental state as the AU Commission, who explained Pretoria, South Africa. meritocratic recruitment to the public that in the context of scarce invest- In his presentation on ‘The Glo- service, good rewards and central ment resources that characterises most bal Economic Crisis and the Revival planning agencies. The state’s rela- African economies, sustained eco- of the State: Implications for the State tionship with non-state actors consti- nomic growth would be impossible in Africa’, Edigheji’s call for a ‘demo- tutes the second group of attributes without the state taking the lead, or at cratic developmental state’ and a of the developmental state. With more developmentalist coalition to drive the least playing a major role. than half of all Singaporeans living in state agenda sparked an animated de- state housing, for example, it was They used the recent cases in bate during a 21-23 March seminar wrong, he argued, to say that devel- Europe, where the state ran to the res- on the global financial crisis and Af- opmental states only promote indus- cue of countries such as Greece, Ire- rica. trialisation. Developmentalism is a land and Portugal, as illustrations to The African state has to be both central part of a developmental state. justify the desire to see the state get developmental and democratic. The The type of developmental state better involved in the running of Af- neoliberal agenda, he argued, had in the last century was blind to the en- rican economies. very little democracy. If anything, it vironmental question. However, the The meaning and role of a devel- was very supportive of autocracy. In 21st-century developmental state has opmental state can be better appreci- effect, the dominant neoliberal regime to be sensitive to the climate and en- ated by drawing lessons from the supported authoritarianism. vironmental question. Edigheji said developed coun- Asian countries which based their The developmental state must tries’ responses to the 2008 crisis af- build transformative and competent development strategies on firmed that declarations of the death institutions – place emphasis on plan- infrastructural development, mobilis- of the nation-state were premature ning; revive or establish marketing ing savings for investment in educa- and misguided. Nationalisation is back boards; forge a developmentalist coa- tion, health, agricultural diversifica- on the agenda with the state acquisi- lition (Edigheji did not define the so- tion, science, information technology tion of auto companies and nationali- cial force that will drive this coalition) and communication, research and de- sation of private banks in the United and good development governance velopment, among others. States and Europe. (not good governance). The developmental state as sug- The global financial crisis has The framework must also include gested by the participants at the Ad- shattered the tired argument that the industrial policy, greening develop- dis Ababa meeting should be one that market is self-regulatory. It also un- mental state and enhancement of hu- veiled one of the shameless faces of looks ‘to restructure its bureaucratic man capabilities. Edigheji said build- the dominant economic regimes as it ing that developmentalist coalition and incentives away from rent-seeking to- prescribes socialism for the private engendering the ‘democratic develop- wards facilitative, pro-growth and sector and capitalism for the poor and mental state’ are some issues for fur- pro-poor allocation of resources’ and working class. ther research. ensures a ‘sustained diversification of This solution to the crisis offers The seminar was hosted by Third the production and export base’ of the an important juncture for intervention, World Network Africa in Accra, Ghana. economy. the need for the developmental state, – African Agenda u To achieve these ends will mean, among others, the adoption of devel- opment strategies and industrial poli- vention in strategic industries that will manent crisis’ for over three decades cies for structural transformation, the transform their economies. What the and is therefore entitled to return to strengthening of development plan- developed countries did to arrive at the developmental state agenda if it ning institutions, public finance gov- where they are today and what their is to resolve its developmental chal- ernance and long-term development central governments are doing in the lenges. ÿu planning and strategy-setting. name of stimulus packages to reignite The agenda of the developmen- their economies is but an attempt to Cornelius Adedze is Editor of African Agenda, from reinvent the developmental state. Af- which this article is reproduced (Vol. 14, No. 1, tal state is not about outright nation- 2011). African Agenda is published by Third World alisation of industries but state inter- rica has been more or less in a ‘per- Network Africa, the Africa secretariat of TWN.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 26 W O R L D A F F A I R S No exit: Yemen’s existential crisis There is no sign of the crisis in Yemen abating as President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih refuses to step down despite massive and continuing demonstrations calling for the end of his over-30-year rule, says Sheila Carapico.

A VENAL dictatorship three decades old, mutinous army officers, dissident tribal sheikhs, a parliamentary oppo- sition coalition, youthful pro-democ- racy activists, gray-haired Socialists, gun-toting cowboys, veiled women protesters, northern carpetbaggers, Shi‘i insurgents, tear gas canisters, leaked State Department cables, for- eign-born jihadis – Yemen’s demi- revolutionary spring has it all. The mass uprising in southern Arabia blends features of the peaceful popu- lar revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia with elements of the state repression in Libya and Syria in a gaudy, fast- paced, multi-layered theatre of revolt verging on the absurd. Whether the drama will end in glory or tragedy remains to be seen. But indications are not promising. The crowds clamouring for change in Yemen are diverse, and at the core are the Already, President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah youth. Salih has stalled and contrived to avoid signing a late April deal the Obama administrations, the mestic enemies. Gulf and French of- brokered by Gulf Cooperation Coun- United States has been deeply impli- ficials were also frank with the US cil (GCC) neighbours desperate to re- cated in Yemen, which emerged in the State Department in their assessments store a semblance of stability in the late 2000s as a haven and launching of the regime’s shattered legitimacy.1 most populous corner of the Arabian pad for the Arabian Peninsula branch Indeed, as early as 2005, the US am- Peninsula. The GCC extracted a ver- of al-Qaeda. Especially since the bassador in Sanaa wrote a cable en- bal promise from Salih to resign the Christmas 2009 ‘crotch bomber’ at- visioning scenarios including Salih’s presidency after a period of 30 days. tempted to detonate an explosive de- fall to the legal parliamentary oppo- But convincing him to make good on vice hidden in his underwear on an sition, plotters among his inner circle his pledge under conditions satisfac- airplane in Detroit, the US has spent or mass popular protests.2 No one tory to Yemeni elites, the pro-democ- up to $300 million upgrading coun- could have predicted the confluence racy movement and interested foreign ter-terrorism, military and internal of all three. But Washington, fore- parties is a gargantuan task, requiring security forces loyal to Salih. The warned, might better have hedged its more diplomatic legerdemain than has Pentagon provided helicopters, ar- bets. It has yet to do so. been brought to bear so far. On 30 moured vehicles, ammunition, sur- Over $1 billion in additional US April, instead of signing on to the pro- veillance technology, Humvees, military assistance already in the pipe- posed agreement, Salih sent tanks fir- night-vision goggles and other mili- line has been frozen in light of the ing live ammunition to clear some tary equipment, as well as training, to spring’s events. Hesitant to distance 1,500 campers from a central square its Yemeni counterparts. itself from Salih and low on sympa- in the Mansoura district of the south- Classified cables released by thy for the protesters, the US was up- ern port city of Aden. ‘Abd al-Latif WikiLeaks show that this assistance beat about the prospects for the face- al-Zayani, secretary-general of the increased despite the Salih regime’s saving GCC agreement to be sealed six-nation GCC, who had flown to the widely recognised backsliding from by the end of April. The Embassy in Yemeni capital of Sanaa to meet with democratisation and toward repres- Sanaa announced that it was ‘dis- Salih, returned to Saudi Arabia red- sion, as well as plentiful red flags in tressed’ and ‘disturbed’ by the ‘vio- faced and empty-handed. 2009 and 2010 that American-made lence, April 27, that killed [12] and Under the Bush and particularly weapons were being used against do- injured hundreds of Yemeni

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 27 W O R L D A F F A I R S citizens...on the eve of manship keeping any signing an historic one star out of the lime- agreement that will light, the JMP has achieve through peace- played a pivotal yet am- ful, democratic and biguous role in the 2011 constitutional means a political crisis, embrac- transition of authority ing the demonstrations leading to new presi- after they were well dential elections in July underway, refusing 2011.’ Its press release Salih’s belated February urged ‘Yemeni citizens’ offer to form a coalition to show good faith by government and now ‘avoiding all provoca- conferring with the tive demonstrations, GCC and other interna- marches and speeches tional actors to find an in the coming days’, exit from the impasse. adding coyly: ‘We also The JMP leaders ac- urge government secu- President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih has thus far resisted all diplomatic efforts cepted the deal whereby rity forces to refrain to secure his resignation. Salih would step down from using violence in return for immunity against demonstrators.’ opmental situation in the country,’ he from prosecution for his many crimes told military cadets on 25 April. Next, and the promise that they would gain The central players presumably enraged by Al Jazeera substantial parliamentary representa- coverage of the demonstrations, he tion. At centrestage in the Yemeni pot- accused Qatar, one of the GCC states boiler is President ‘Ali ‘Abdallah sponsoring the exit deal, of ‘inciting The plotters Salih, barricaded in a fortified palace and financing chaos’. compound in the capital behind Revo- The partners to the proposed exit When Salih accuses his oppo- lutionary Guards and US-armed Spe- deal are the leaders of the so-called nents of sedition, he is referring ex- cial Forces commanded by his son and Joint Meeting Parties or JMP, a mot- plicitly to defectors from his inner cir- one-time heir apparent Ahmad. Peep- ley coalition of Socialists, Sunni Is- cle. Two were tagged by US Embassy ing over the parapets, Salih delivers lamists and other conservatives affili- officials who detected dissension nearly nonsensical speeches in his ated with the party known as Islah, within Salih’s original ‘triumvirate’ at trademark not-quite-literate Arabic and partisans of Nasserist, Baathist least as early as 2005 and again in inveighing against Zionist instigators and liberal platforms, as well as Is- 2009. This fact alone makes them and fornicating demonstrators. The lamists from the Zaydi branch of worth noting. revolt against his rule is coordinated Shi‘ism practised in (northern) One is Gen. ‘Ali Muhsin, Salih’s from ‘an operations room in Tel Aviv’, Yemen. This legal, parliamentary op- henchman since 1978, head of the he ventured on 1 March. On 18 April position coalition has been bargain- First Armoured Division and the he denigrated the popular movement ing with the ruling General People’s Northwest Military Command who as an un-Islamic ‘mixing of sexes’. To Congress over the rules of the sus- prosecuted merciless campaigns that these and other pronouncements the pended electoral process for several vanquished southern secessionists in throngs jeer and hurl their shoes at the years. It includes prominent national 1994 and scourged Sa‘ada province giant video screen in the plaza outside figures like former South Yemeni in the far north in order finally to de- Sanaa University: In video footage of Prime Minister Yasin Sa‘id Nu‘man, feat Zaydi Houthi rebels and their the scene, the footwear look like flies human rights activist and Sanaa Uni- tribal allies in 2010. In both battles, buzzing around the president’s face. versity professor Muhammad ‘Abd the general called upon radical Sunni Defiant if not oblivious, Salih al-Malik al-Mutawakkil and Islah jihadis to join the fight against god- announced in late April 50,000 new, spokesperson ‘Abd al-Wahhab al- less Socialists in the south and Zaydi unfunded civil service jobs and vowed Anisi, among others with a measure partisans in Sa‘ada. US Ambassador to relinquish power only ‘through the of ‘street cred’. Thomas Krajeski described him in ballot box’, calling, spuriously, for Comprised of politicians from 2005 as a sinister arms smuggler elections monitored by international both of the two Yemeni polities that whose name was spoken in hushed observers. ‘People who resign from unified in 1990, this important group tones because he was feared and mis- their posts and join the revolutions are has extensive experience in Yemen’s trusted by the Houthi rebels, south- the symbols of corruption and they do unique National Dialogue of Popular erners, leftists and others.3 not have agendas for reforming the Forces and in electoral and parliamen- Subsequent cables revealed the economic, cultural, social and devel- tary politics. With its rotating chair- rumour that he was assigned the

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 28 W O R L D A F F A I R S nearly impossible task of fighting the sistance. A second cable dated the In 1990, the south unified with the Houthis in order to ruin his military same day put al-Ahmar among a small north, already ruled by Salih, and then reputation and thus his political am- group of insiders blaming Salih for attempted secession four years later. bitions. There is strong evidence, as ‘wrong-headed policies’ contributing During the short civil war, the presi- well, that during its intervention in the to ‘Yemen’s myriad problems’ who dent called in assorted tribal militias conflict in 2010 the Saudi Air Force may be ‘truly concerned about the fate and ‘Afghan Arabs’ – salafis returned was given targeting recommendations of Yemen, or, smelling blood in the from the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghani- to strike coordinates that turned out water positioning themselves for a stan – to assist the regular army un- to be ‘Ali Muhsin’s command head- post-Saleh era.’ In April 2011, the US der the command of Gen. ‘Ali quarters.4 The general’s 19 March Embassy in Sanaa felt compelled to Muhsin. A beer factory and civil serv- defection and deployment of tanks to issue a terse denial of rumours of its ice administration offices in Aden protect the demonstrators from forces support for Hamid al-Ahmar. were torched and looted, while the loyal to the president was thus no sur- erstwhile southern Socialist leader- prise. Subsequent skirmishes could be 50,000 pairs of clasped hands ship fled by boat to Oman. Northern the harbinger of a civil war between military officers and gangs of scala- factions of the military. State-run Sanaa television runs wags installed themselves as gover- In blogs, interviews and continuous tape of people jumping up nors, administrators and landowners. Facebook postings, pro-democracy and down, yelling ‘the people want Men deprived of their jobs and pen- spokespersons made it clear that they ‘Ali ‘Abdallah Salih’, and file foot- sions and women stripped of the rights were not fooled by cynical turncoats age of marches celebrating his lead- enjoyed under the old Socialist ad- jockeying for power but hardly inter- ership. Yet neither he nor the dissi- ministration seethed under what they ested in liberal democracy. When ‘Ali dent counter-elites can contain the regarded as occupation. Oil revenues Muhsin’s troops deployed to the unprecedented, sustained, spontane- from wells on what had been south- square outside Sanaa University, the ous grassroots uprising of the past ern soil flowed into the coffers of demonstrators initially cringed, think- three months. Salih and his cronies. ing he was coming to destroy them. The crowds clamouring for After more than a decade of eco- The other power broker, who change (taghyir) are diverse, and dis- nomic collapse and political repres- broke ranks after at least 50 peaceful persed among at least a dozen cities sion, the youth and some of the old protesters were murdered on 18 and towns. At the core are the youth, YSP cadres launched what became March, is Hamid al-Ahmar, the most the demographic plurality between the known as al-Harak, a movement for politically ambitious of the 10 sons ages of 15 and 30 who have never change.5 By late 2010, their protests of the late ‘Abdallah bin Husayn al- known another government leader- had become commonplace, although Ahmar, paramount chief of the Hashid ship: university students, graduates, Salih and the official media succeeded tribal confederation, long-time dropouts and wannabes grasping at temporarily in presenting their griev- speaker of Parliament and stalwart of straws of hope for a better future in ances as secessionist gripes that the original triumvirate backing the Arab world’s poorest country. would destroy Yemeni unity. On 26 Salih’s rule. Although not his They have turned their daily marches April, they marked the anniversary of Reaganesque father, as a member of and sit-ins into performance art with the start of the 1994 civil war in which Parliament, part of the Supreme Com- music, dancing, skits, caricatures, the former South attempted to mittee of the Islah party, a million- posters, chants and collective gestures reestablish its independent sover- aire businessman and a prominent fig- of defiance like 50,000 pairs of eignty. ure in the Hashid confederation, clasped hands held high. Women, Whether or not they harbour Hamid is able to draw large crowds most prominently the eloquent and genuinely separatist sentiments, resi- in the family’s hometown of ‘Amran. outspoken Tawakkul Karman, head of dents of the former South Yemen have Salih is himself a Hashid. the NGO Women Journalists Without good reason to feel they have been pu- US embassy cables made avail- Chains, have raised their voices more nitively targeted and deprived of ba- able by WikiLeaks indicate that and more, in solidarity with demands sic liberties and entitlements. Hamid al-Ahmar has been manoeu- for change and lately in outrage at the Yet, by the same token, many vring against Salih since soon after president’s sleazy innuendo directed southern tribulations resonate in every his father’s death in late 2007. One at ‘ladies’ who march or speak in pub- province of the republic: the grotesque cable from 31 August 2009 quotes lic. The freedom struggle has now enrichment of regime cronies at the him calling Salih ‘the devil’ and his gone viral and virtually nationwide. expense of the many; deteriorating son Ahmad and nephews ‘clowns’. A peaceful intifada has been in standards of living; obscenely bad According to the same State Depart- motion since the summer of 2007 in schools, hospitals and roads; the sky- ment missive, he promised to organ- the south, the territory known as the rocketing price of meat, staples and ise anti-Salih demonstrations if and People’s Democratic Republic of even clean water; the lack of jobs for when he could persuade ‘Ali Muhsin Yemen and ruled by the Yemeni So- college and high-school graduates. to go along and also enlist Saudi as- cialist Party (YSP) from 1967 to 1990. Ambassador Krajeski had already

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 29 W O R L D A F F A I R S

seen prospects for revolt in the 2005 demand and the rhyming name of the rates of poverty and political disen- riots prompted by the lifting of fuel epicentre of revolt in Cairo. The first franchisement, filled the public square subsidies. Then, dissatisfaction was tents were set up there on 21 Febru- with banners and chants: ‘Irhal!’ In particularly acute among the peren- ary. People who gathered in Taghyir mid-April protesters were shot dead nially restive tribes of the eastern Square echoed the slogans of Tahrir by security forces in Ta‘izz, Hudayda provinces of al-Jawf and Ma’rib, Square, which in turn had travelled and other cities, as well as in Sanaa. where truckers and pump farmers to Egypt from Tunisia: ‘Irhal!’ Each funeral – at least 145 to date – consider cheap fuel their lifeblood. (Leave!) and ‘al-sha‘b yurid isqat al- provoked more angry or grief-stricken Grandiose pageants of presiden- nizam’ (the people want to overthrow dissenters to call for the downfall of tial power, half-truths in the official the regime). the regime. media, indignities at military check- Salih’s men borrowed the failed Insurrectionary sentiments points, arbitrary arrests and imprison- tactics of Mubarak, sending thugs fuelled patriotic solidarities and uni- ments – these and other daily insults wielding batons into the crowds and fying sympathies. These spread to the feed popular alienation, despair and rounding up known regime oppo- vast plains, mountains and deserts frustration, most notably among the nents. On 18 March, in a pitch of fury north, northwest, east and somewhat youth. While a privileged few cool off or panic someone ordered snipers south of Sanaa, in the provinces of in swimming pools in their luxury overlooking Taghyir Square to open Sa‘ada, al-Jawf, Ma’rib, ‘Amran and compounds, the water table has fallen, fire on the assembled protesters. By Dhamar. In these rather sparsely decimating the farm economy that the following day at least 50 were populated, semi-arid regions analo- remains the livelihood of the rural dead and more lay dying. In disbe- gous to Texas or Wyoming, the so- majority. Farmers and ranchers fac- lief, fury and sorrow, a record 150,000 called tribal heartland where ranch- ing starvation have flocked to the cit- marched in Sanaa’s biggest ‘day of ers, cowboys, truckers and hillbillies ies where water supplies and social rage’ so far. Ministers, ambassadors, carry Kalashnikovs or even bazooka services are swamped. Misery has civil servants, members of Parliament launchers and historically harbour become the new normal; millions and military officers including ‘Ali deep mistrust of the central govern- barely survive on the equivalent of a Muhsin declared their sympathies ment, conventional protests were dollar or two per day. with the protesters. On 23 March a mixed with ‘traditional’ acts of civil state of emergency was declared. disobedience, such as road blockages Misery loves company Within a month, a tent city housing and commercial stoppages. In a heav- men and boys (and sometimes whole ily tribal area further south, al-Bayda, Without a doubt, Yemenis were families) from around the country men threw down their arms in April inspired by the revolutionary move- stretched, by some accounts, for miles to march to another popular slogan: ments in Tunisia and Egypt in early along the streets leading to Sanaa ‘Silmiyya!’ (Peacefully!) Bear in 2011. Gatherings in Sanaa and other University. Other camps were pitched mind: Armed tribesmen and villagers cities in January, as the spirit of Tuni- in other cities and towns. could resort to open rebellion but have sia diffused in the Arab world, were In provincial cities, where hun- elected to keep their powder dry. relatively restrained affairs, replete in dreds or thousands had attended ral- some cases with folding chairs for lies, tens of thousands now seized The impasse various JMP dignitaries.6 In February, public spaces. In Ta‘izz, a large com- as Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak mercial and industrial city in the ver- As April moved into May, sce- began to proffer concessions under dant southern mountains of the former narios were buzzing like the shoes the sustained pressure of the street, the North Yemen, and the neighbouring tossed at Salih’s visage on the giant timbre of the Yemeni rallies rose in city of Ibb, simmering discontent screen. The accord that was supposed intensity. On the evening of 11 Feb- erupted. The Ta‘izz-Ibb area, a rich to be signed 1 May remained a work ruary, the date of Mubarak’s resigna- agricultural zone of peasants and in progress up to the eleventh hour. tion, thousands of joyful youth con- sharecroppers often called the ‘mid- The basic plan was for President Salih verged on Sanaa’s Liberation Square. dle regions’, served as a bridge be- to transfer power to his vice president, There, they were confronted by uni- tween the southern Harak and the the relatively impotent ‘Abd al-Rabb formed security forces and regime- revolutionary movement centred in Mansour al-Hadi, within 30 days. supporting agitators armed with Sanaa. People from Ta‘izz travelled, Under a new power-sharing arrange- sticks.7 telephoned and tweeted with family ment, the ruling General People’s Thus prevented from occupying and compatriots in Aden, Hadramawt, Congress would retain 50% of the 301 the central Tahrir Square, the youths Abyan and other parts of the former seats in Parliament, the opposition nevertheless eventually found their South Yemen already in ferment. JMP would acquire 40% and 10% own iconic protest locale: the plaza Youth and parents in Hudayda, the would go to independents, including, before the gates of Sanaa University, Red Sea port that is the hub of the presumably, representatives of the which they have redubbed Taghyir Tihama coastal plain where Afro- youth movement. Within a week a Square in homage both to their core Yemenis suffer the country’s highest transitional unity government ex-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 30 W O R L D A F F A I R S pected to be led by a JMP prime min- ister, preferably from the former South, was to be formed. Senior statesman ‘Abd al-Karim al-‘Iryani, the current secretary-general of the GPC, having until recently remained aloof from the fray, was dispatched to the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh to participate in negotiations with the GCC. Crucially, but vaguely, the pro- posal specified an end to the demon- strations. The remaining 70 loyalists in Parliament further demanded that Salih retain his leadership of the GPC. It was not clear if a popular opposi- tion demand that he and family mem- bers resign their military posts was really part of the deal. The arrangement was too am- Carrying away a wounded comrade on 18 March, when snipers opened fire on biguous and riddled with loopholes protesters in Sanaa. The deadly events would spark Sanaa’s biggest ‘day of rage’ so for either Salih or the protesters to far, with a record 150,000 marching in disbelief, fury and sorrow. accept by the 1 May deadline. In the end, only the GCC monarchies and Political limbo nous response or a full-fledged rebel- the JMP leaders were ready to sign. lion by armed citizens. The spirit of Salih first offered to have either al- The failed GCC push to reach an silmiyya, which served Tunisians and ‘Iryani or Vice President al-Hadi accord by 1 May turned out to be the Egyptians so well, can persevere only verify the accord on his behalf in opening gambit in a complex nego- so long in the face of live fire. In Riyadh, and then promised to sign in tiation that seems unlikely to be con- March and for part of April, it was Sanaa in the presence of the GCC’s cluded soon. More and more, person- possible to envision an orderly tran- al-Zayani. At the last minute, he ac- alities from bygone dramas are now sition to a civilian coalition transi- quiesced to sign in his capacity as weighing in from exile: rebel leader tional government. The month of May head of the ruling party but not as Yahya al-Houthi and former South may bring more bloodshed. ÿu president. This refusal scuttled the Yemen leaders Haydar Abu Bakr al- negotiation. Salih scoffed at a basket ‘Attas, ‘Ali Salim al-Bayd and ‘Ali Sheila Carapico is visiting chair of the Department of carrots that left him with his arse- Nasir Muhammad, to name a few, of Political Science at the American University in nal of sticks. seek to claim the initiative. If there is Cairo. She will return to teach political science and Although Salih was the one who international studies at the University of Richmond to be forward momentum, their views in the US. She is a contributing editor of Middle nixed the deal, it was clear that the and constituencies, such as they are, GCC plan did not have popular back- East Report, from the website of which will have to be taken into account. (www.merip.org) this article is reproduced. ing, either. It had not been negotiated And yet these additions to the mix can so much as cobbled together. On 24 only complicate matters. Endnotes April, a group signing itself as the Youth Popular Revolution Commit- Yemen is now in political limbo and not far from the road to hell. No 1 Washington Post, 9 April 2011. tee already rejected the provision of 2 The cable was published in the immunity from criminal prosecution one believes that the president can Guardian, 11 March 2011. for the president and his family, which continue in office or that he will re- 3 Ibid. could easily amount to carte blanche linquish power. The popular move- 4 Guardian, 8 April 2011. for excessive force during the month- ment has come too far to back off and 5 Susanne Dahlgren, ‘The Snake long transition. Amnesty International yet sees no clear path toward social with a Thousand Heads: The and Human Rights Watch shared justice. Gulf monarchies and the Southern Cause in Yemen’, Middle East Report 256 (Fall 2010). these concerns. It was unclear, moreo- Obama administration appear to lack 6 Stacey Philbrick Yadav, ‘No Pink ver, how the JMP could disperse the the diplomatic wherewithal, the stra- Slip for Salih: What Yemen’s sit-ins and roadblocks; as commenta- tegic imagination or the humanitarian Protests Do and Do Not Mean’, tor Jamila ‘Ali Raja told Al Jazeera, decency to envision a solution to the Middle East Report Online, 9 the formal parties could invite their impasse. And yet daily the status quo February 2011. own members to abandon the barri- becomes more untenable. Loyalist 7 Nir Rosen, ‘How It Started in cades, but not give orders to the tens patrimonial forces are wont to shoot, Yemen: From Tahrir to Taghyir’, of thousands they do not represent. and may yet provoke either a muti- Jadaliyya, 18 March 2011.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 31 W O R L D A F F A I R S The Nakba protests: A taste of the future Jonathan Cook explains why this year’s marches by Palestinians to commemorate Nakba (the ‘catastrophe’ that befell them when they lost their homeland in 1948 with the creation of Israel) presage a crucial phase in their epic struggle for nationhood.

THEY are extraordinary scenes. Film shot on mobile phones captured the moment on 15 May when at least 1,000 Palestinian refugees marched across no-man’s land to one of the most heavily protected borders in the world, the one separating Syria from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Waving Palestinian flags, the marchers braved a minefield, then tore down a series of fences, allowing more than 100 to run into Israeli-con- trolled territory. As they embraced Druze villagers on the other side, voices could be heard saying: ‘This is what liberation looks like.’ Unlike in previous years, this Nakba Day was not simply a com- memoration of the catastrophe that befell the Palestinians in 1948, when Protesters scaling the border fence between Syria and Israel on 15 May. The Nakba their homeland was forcibly Day protests reminded Palestinians that, despite their long-enforced dispersion, they reinvented as the Jewish state. It still have the potential to forge a common struggle against Israel. briefly reminded Palestinians that, despite their long-enforced disper- least 14 protesters were killed and gerprints’ on the day’s events – as sion, they still have the potential to dozens wounded, both at Majdal though Palestinians lacked enough forge a common struggle against Is- Shams in the Golan and near Maroun grievances of their own to initiate pro- rael. al-Ras in Lebanon. tests. In Gaza, a teenager was shot dead Violent response and more than 100 other demonstra- Inevitable tors wounded as they massed at cross- As Israel violently cracked down ing points. At Qalandiya, the main But, in truth, Israeli intelligence on the 15 May protests on many fronts checkpoint Israel created to bar West has warned for months that mass dem- – in the West Bank, Gaza, Jerusalem Bank Palestinians from reaching Je- onstrations of this kind were inevita- and on the borders with Syria and rusalem, at least 40 protesters were ble, stoked by the intransigence of Lebanon – it looked less like a mili- badly injured. There were clashes in Israel’s right-wing government in the tary superpower and more like the major West Bank towns too. face of both Washington’s renewed proverbial boy with his finger in the And inside Israel, the country’s interest in creating a Palestinian state dam. Palestinian minority took their own and the Arab Spring’s mood of The Palestinian ‘Arab Spring’ is Nakba march for the first time into ‘change is possible’. arriving and Israel has no diplomatic the heart of Israel, waving Palestin- Following in the footsteps of or political strategy to deal with it. ian flags in Jaffa, the once-famous Egyptian and Tunisian demonstrators, Instead on 15 May, Israel used the Palestinian city that has been trans- ordinary Palestinians used the new only weapon in its current arsenal – formed since 1948 into a minor sub- social media to organise and coordi- brute force – against unarmed dem- urb of Tel Aviv. nate their defiance – in their case, onstrators. With characteristic obtuseness, challenging the walls, fences and Along the northern borders, at Israel’s leaders identified Iranian ‘fin- checkpoints Israel has erected every-

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 32 W O R L D A F F A I R S

where to separate them. Twit- Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza. ter, not Tehran, was the guid- The peace treaties with Egypt ing hand behind these demon- and Jordan, in particular, have strations. allowed the Israeli army to di- Although the protests are vert its energies into control- not yet a third intifada, they ling the Palestinians under its hint at what may be coming. rule. Or, as one senior Israeli com- But the question is mander warned, they looked whether Israel has the man- ominously like a ‘warm-up’ power to deal with coordi- for September, when the nated and sustained Palestin- newly unified Palestinian ian revolts on multiple fronts. leadership is threatening to Can it withstand such pressure defy Israel and the United without the resort to mass States and seek recognition at slaughter of unarmed Palestin- the United Nations of Pales- ian protesters? tinian statehood inside the The fourth is that the Pal- 1967 borders. Israeli border police detain a Palestinian youth during estinian refugees are not likely Ehud Barak, the Israeli Nakba Day protests on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Israel’s to remain quiet if their inter- defence minister, alluded to violent crackdown on the protests reflected its lack of a ests are sidelined by Israel or similar concerns when he cau- diplomatic or political strategy to deal with the Palestinian by a Palestinian bid for state- tioned: ‘We are just at the start ‘Arab Spring’. hood at the United Nations in of this matter and it could be September that fails to address that we’ll face far more complex chal- government, the two rival factions their concerns. lenges.’ have belatedly realised that they can- The protesters in Syria and Leba- not make headway against Israel as non showed that they will not be Lessons long as they are politically and geo- pushed to the margins of the Pales- graphically divided. tinian Arab Spring. That message will There are several lessons, none Ordinary Palestinians are draw- not be lost on either Hamas or Fatah of them comfortable, for Israel to ing the same conclusion: in the face as they begin negotiations to develop draw from the Nakba Day clashes. of tanks and fighter jets, Palestinian a shared strategy over the next few The first is that the Arab Spring strength lies in a unified national lib- months. cannot be dealt with simply by bat- eration movement that refuses to be And the fifth lesson is that the tening down the hatches. The upheav- defined by Israel’s policies of frag- scenes of Palestinian defiance on Is- als facing Israel’s Arab neighbours mentation. rael’s borders will fuel the imagina- mean these regimes no longer have The third lesson is that Israel has tions of Palestinians everywhere to the legitimacy to decide their own relied on relative quiet on its borders start thinking the impossible – just as Palestinian populations’ fates accord- to enforce the occupations of the West the Tahrir Square protests galvanised ing to narrow self-inter- Egyptians into believing est. they could remove their Just as the post- dictator. Mubarak government in Israel is at a diplo- Egypt is now easing matic and strategic dead- rather than enforcing the end. On 15 May it may blockade on Gaza, the have got its first taste of Syrian regime’s precari- the likely future. u ous position makes it far less able or willing to re- Jonathan Cook is a writer and strain, let alone shoot at, journalist based in Nazareth, Israel. His latest books are Israel and the Palestinian demonstrators Clash of Civilisations: Iraq, Iran and massing on Israel’s bor- the Plan to Remake the Middle East ders. (Pluto Press) and Disappearing The second is that Palestine: Israel’s Experiments in Human Despair (Zed Books). Visit Palestinians have ab- www.jkcook.net. This Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (left) of Fatah and Hamas sorbed the meaning of the article, a version of which originally recent reconciliation be- leader Khaled Meshaal (right) sealed a deal in Cairo to form a unity appeared in The National (Abu government. Fatah and Hamas have belatedly realised that they tween Hamas and Fatah. Dhabi) (www.thenational.ae), is cannot make headway against Israel as long as they are politically reproduced from In establishing a unity and geographically divided. PalestineChronicle.com.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 33 W O R L D A F F A I R S Narco violence in Mexico: Eight theses and many questions In the last three years, Mexico has descended into a spiral of uncontrollable and unimaginable violence as a result of President Felipe Calderon’s decision to launch a war against drug cartels at the behest of the US. Paco Ignacio Taibo II seeks answers to the question as to how it all happened and how this nightmare can be ended.

MORE than three years ago, the man are murdered for protesting the mur- weapons (careful with these official who directs the destinies of our na- ders of their daughters? numbers: who counted them?), am- tion from Los Pinos [the presidential First. Calderon negotiated the munition, rocket launchers and heavy residence] declared war against the launching of this war with President machine guns have entered Mexico, Mexican drug cartels. Since then, we Bush, not with the then newly-arrived giving the mafias firepower superior Mexicans have given – according to Obama. And he agreed in terms of a to that of the armed forces. Today any official statistics – more than 31,000 package deal with absurd conditions. narco lord’s flunkie can continue to lives to the war, with countless in- The drug war has never been, nor buy ammunition for an AK-47 in a jured. Several large cities (Ciudad should it be, a Mexican war. It was, hardware store in Houston. Bullets Juarez, Chihuahua, Monterrey, and is, an essentially American war that kill Mexicans are happily sold in Tampico, Morelia, Culiacan, generated by increased consumption the US. Mazatlan) live in fear and in virtual of drugs on a global scale in the Third. Before starting a war – and states of siege. Some regions have be- United States. Thus, the Mexican pro- we don’t need to read Sun Tzu or come abandoned, rural areas are a no posal should not have gone beyond Friedrich Engels to know – the state man’s land, federal highways impass- an offer to support a war that should should conduct solid intelligence able. Seventeen states of the Repub- take place in the land of the gringos work. Who are the traffickers? Where lic are living crises of epic insecurity. by fighting the distribution networks, are they? What are their ties? What is Thousands of complaints have been financial structures, and through bor- their financial structure like? A thou- lodged to human rights commissions der control. In their territory, not ours. sand and one questions needed to be (and those are the ones that are made But it didn’t happen that way. In three answered. Today, we know that when public, as fear [of reporting violations] years there have been little more than Calderon started the war against the prevents us from knowing more than a half-dozen major operations on [the narcos, all or much of the intelligence the tip of the iceberg) for rape, kid- US] side of the border, while we wit- apparatus of the Mexican state was napping, blackmail, illegal raids, rob- nessed the unleashing of the bloodi- controlled by factions of the drug beries and all kinds of abuse produced est confrontations we Mexicans have gangs themselves. By using anti-nar- by the police forces, the Army and, to experienced since the Cristero War [of cotic officials at the highest levels, a lesser extent, the Navy. Urban 1926-29]. they conducted operations against ri- neighbourhoods and industrial areas Images. I was able to uncover, val gangs, stirring a hornet’s nest of are no longer visited by tax assessors through reading local newspapers in revenge that seems to be without end. or health inspectors, because the drug Acapulco, the reported previous oc- How many policemen were working cartels are the state. cupations of most of the 15 men who for the enemy? Agency directors, or- How did we get here? How can were recently found beheaded. Two ganised crime units, SIEDO, AFI this inertia be stopped before Mexico teenagers, a carwasher, a garbage commanders, deputy attorneys-gen- vanishes amid the fear and terror of a truck driver, a mechanic, two jobless eral... To date, the Mexican govern- holocaust full of cut-off heads, and men, a local policeman, and three con- ment still does not know or does not shootouts where innocent citizens are struction workers. They represent the want to know. To date, state intelli- collateral damage? In Mexico, a place infantry of the Acapulco Cartel mas- gence is infiltrated, distorted, and where police bust through doors dur- sacred by the Chapo Guzman Group fragmented. It is (as can be deter- ing home raids and steal the cheese (according to notes found at the site) mined from their own press state- on the table, with jails where the mafia for control of the town square. ments) absolutely incoherent. rules and there is systematic torture, Second. It took the Calderon Fourth. The judicial system is where official statements of advances government a year to ask the US for corrupted. It has been that way for and successes are made that not even control of weapons trafficking. Since many many years. There are officials the children of the great urban bour- that time the government hasn’t re- from the Attorney-General’s office geoisie buy? Mexico, where factories ceived any response. According to who have been discredited, corrupt and shops close down, and mothers official numbers, close to 50,000 judges, absolute ineptitude when there

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 34 W O R L D A F F A I R S is no declared complicity with the ‘You seem like a good guy. I just lost hundreds of seizures, searches, and crime. One can’t go to war with such a bet with this jerk’ (pointing to his detentions? Why is this never talked a structure. How many criminals co-pilot, who, smiling, shows off an about? Why has the Mexican govern- have been let go in the past three Uzi). ment not asked the US financial op- years? How many have received in- ‘If you had honked, I would have erations to block the flow of money sufficient sentences when compared shot you. Today is your lucky day, going to narco trafficking? You can- to the magnitude of their crimes? Pepe pal.’ The car takes off. The kind man not go to war without a solid finan- Reveles said the other day in a just stands there in a cold sweat. cial investigation and a bilateral roundtable that those who handed agreement with the US to block the over the corpses to El Pozolero (and Packages of money narco dollars. we are talking about more than 100 Images. A Santander Bank man- dead people) would be set free soon Sixth. Conan Doyle, in the voice ager had been telling his regional boss because the Attorney-General could of Sherlock Holmes, used to say that for two years that he was receiving only charge them with possession of when the story was unclear, ‘follow money from an unknown source. He weapons and drugs due to a badly the money’; one must follow the was told: ‘Money is money.’ carried out investigation. A cancerous money, the financial trail. Narco traf- Seventh. An Army convoy in La chaos reigns, as has customarily ficking, like the smuggling of alco- Laguna heads toward a high-security reigned in the Mexican justice system, hol in the US during the Prohibition prison: they are transporting an im- a paradise of accidents and coinci- era, or car theft in Mexico, is a crimi- portant prisoner. Unfamiliar with the dences. We live in a territory with a nal business, it follows the rules of a area, they have a local police patrol backlog of investigations, disorgan- semi-visible market, it has invest- heading up the front and another in ised files, no scientific evidence, lack ments, is subject to production and back. When they reach a traffic light, of a national fingerprint bank, non- distribution. A portion of the money, the local patrol stops. He flashes his existent gathering of information from millions and millions of dollars, will lights three times and then zooms all the policing agencies in the coun- commonly be moved in packets of away at 100 miles per hour. The of- try. How many times have we read green bills wrapped up in newspapers ficer at the back does the same in re- in the news that a person under arrest and in Samsonite suitcases. But the verse. From the alleys, gunmen had recently been in jail? Who let him other portion, perhaps the most im- emerge and engage in a shootout out? portant, becomes investments, against the military. The patrolmen Fifth. In the Torreon prison, the houses, luxury automobiles, office have yet to reappear in public, nor director tortured the prisoners. In an- buildings, hotels, stores, restaurants have the local officials, who have van- other prison, gangs were given per- During the time of Caro Quintero, ished into the big information black mission to go out at night to execute a district of Ciudad Juarez, jokingly hole that is Calderon’s war. rivals. There have been massive jail- called Disneyland, was full of ex- Between Monterrey and Tampico breaks at 10 other prisons. There are travagant mansions: Cinderella’s cas- a convoy of rental trucks returning complaints about the control and the tle, California-style mansions, cheap from a job are diverted by police to a privileges granted to the mafia in all materials reminiscent of One Thou- gap, a rural road. At the end of the prisons, including high-security in- sand and One Nights, Buddhist road a group of Zetas (gang members) armed with machine guns are wait- stallations. More than a dozen prison pagodas. Everyone in the city knew ing. The drivers are tortured and directors have been dismissed in re- that it was narco territory. Money is robbed. cent months. Has the internal situa- visible. What about the routes, routes Today, we know from the state- tion changed? Without prior purifica- that come down from the US – are tion of the prison system, you cannot ments of those under witness protec- they not too? The SAT [Tax Admin- tion that for years police chiefs played go to war. istration Service] is very worried Images. The most frightening of escort to drug transport runs and pro- about charging taxes to any gringo anecdotes: In Torreon a man is tected narco bosses. But it is not only who is not careful. Is it not possible stopped at a red light. When the light the chiefs; many other police officers to detect the millions that come down turns green, the car in front of him have acted in collaboration with, abet- stops without reason. He wants to lay from the other side of the border? The ted, informed, and protected the drug on the horn, but resists the urge. These Mexican government has put in place bosses. The state has supplied the foot are not times for honking. The road is thousands of banking obstacles to soldiers. One in three drug-related backed up. The light cycles through movement of funds by citizens, but arrests – you can read it every day in and turns red again. The man decides has not opened a macro-investigation the newspapers – is a police officer to get out of his car and kindly ask regarding the banking operations that or former police or military man. the men in the stalled car if there is are related to the large sums of money Years ago in Tijuana I asked a news- any way he could be of assistance. of the mafias. Have chequebooks, paper editor why a dozen policemen The driver of the stalled car shows bank account information, finger- had been shot in a clash between ri- him a gun and hands him 200 pesos. prints, tracks not been found in the val gangs. He replied that it is cheaper

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 35 W O R L D A F F A I R S to hire a cop than to train a merchants. They control all hitman. How is it possible that street vendors in Monterrey. the Mexican (and US) Army They represent justice in en- has trained an entire body of tire zones of Michoacan military elites that then passed where La Familia represses en masse to form the essence abusive husbands and harm- of Los Zetas? If we Mexicans ful debtors (read the notes of knew, if we knew that crime Arturo Cano in La Jornada). was committed by the po- They are the controllers on lice in thousands of cases, federal roads that charge how could the Mexican state tolls. They are the ones that not know? offer (and deliver) protection Is it possible to hide the to a restaurateur in Ciudad fact when someone’s salary goes from $1,500 a month to Juarez if he pays, and no $25,000? How many hours of more health inspectors or economic research could a Treasury requirements. They policeman endure before it is are the controllers of the larg- discovered that he owns six est human trafficking and houses in subdivisions kidnapping network on the throughout the state of planet. They are the ones Mexico? Isn’t there anyone in who offer gainful employ- Mexico who can interpret a ment to thousands of youths polygraph test? Or does the in border gangs. They are in Mexican government not dare large part our country, a new to use it at the risk of demon- state. A state that replaces an- strating that the majority of its other state based on abuse agents lie? The majority? Ten and corruption. percent? Ninety percent? A victim of a suspected drug-related execution. According In Chihuahua, a roadside to official figures, more than 31,000 lives have been lost to mechanic pays the narco 200 Does a polygraph machine the drug war in Mexico. even exist in any police pesos a week for the use of the sidewalk where previ- agency anywhere in the coun- once told me that he had no doubt try? Or was it sold off to buy soft ously he would pay a 300-peso bribe there were still hundreds of honest to the police. Two of a kind. Why drinks and snacks at the nearest gas captains and majors in the Army, but station? should a capo be in prison if the one they were not the decision makers. who committed electoral fraud and Everything is born of a police You cannot stage a war against narco service whose morals are perverted. robbed the nation of their destiny is trafficking with this quality of human not, and neither is the one who with And this is old Mexican history, which resources. There is no possibility at the modest salary of a government reaches its highest level during the all of changing the situation while the employee bought three castles in ‘German’ times. The hitch is impu- dominant moral in law enforcement France? As long as the Mexican gov- nity. Mexicans know that historically is the one we see today. ernment cannot guarantee its citizens the police and the Army are not a force Images. Any citizen with a an honest relationship, you cannot for maintaining order, but rather a cellphone can record them: On the fight a war on drugs. quasi-legal criminal force. Knowing road from Tampico to Matamoros, Images. Some children in a pic- what the Calderon government should moving convoys of four or five black ture on the front page of La Jornada have known (we cannot assume that vans, with the spray-painted initials show a sign that reads: ‘Dear Kings, the stupidity has stretched to the CG, the Gulf Cartel. we do not want Calderon’s war.’ But bounds of absurdity)? How could one it’s not enough not to want it, we must dare to launch a war against the drug Companies that charge for stop it. So that means, before anything bosses with human resources like protection else, solving, among others, the eight these? It was not only a war that one problems that are presented here. ÿu could not win, but one could not be- Eighth. Today the Narco is not gin it without first purging the police only a dozen armed groups that con- Paco Ignacio Taibo II is a celebrated Mexican writer, force. But how do we clean up the trol one of the most important eco- historian and political analyst. This article originally appeared in La Jornada (15 January 2011). The police force without at the same time nomic activities of the country. They are companies that charge for pro- above, translated from the Spanish by Sandy Juarez transforming the repressive nature of and Jason Wallach, is reproduced from the Toward the Mexican state? A retired general tection, for example to all Cancun Freedom website (www.towardfreedom.com).

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 36 W O M E N Stateless refugee mothers fall through the cracks in Bangladesh With no prospect of being allowed to return home or being granted asylum in Bangladesh, undocumented Burmese Rohingya mothers in refugee camps survive by taking refuge in the only thing they have left, each other.

Misha Hussain

MOTHERING in the Kutupalong makeshift refugee camp in the south- west of Bangladesh is about as tough as it gets. Those who live in the camp experience each day what it means to be undocumented and ‘meaningless’. Without the right to work, to carry money, or to receive humanitarian aid, these ethnic Burmese Rohingya women and children bear the brunt of the international community’s unwill- ingness to tackle a 20-year-old issue. Some mothers are as young as the age A Rohingya woman at the Kutupalong refugee camp carrying her child. of 16. Many suffer, along with their children, from acute malnutrition, hunger and starvation. Many have lit- gees International report. As as neighbouring Bangladesh. tle access to education or healthcare. Médecins Sans Frontières faces one Life is far from easy. In the Undocumented Burmese wall after another with on-the-ground Kutupalong makeshift camp, Rohingya refugees are in a growing outreach inside Bangladesh, the con- Rohingya women are forced to accept state of crisis in Bangladesh as au- tinuation of the few medical pro- lives that continue to harshly limit thorities prevent international aid grammes left for Rohingya women is them. Today they live in degradation measures to help them. Relief agen- under threat. as they receive little to no access to cies such as MSF – Médecins Sans At the very bottom of Rohingya employment, education, proper or Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) society are the women and girls who safe shelter, maternal health services and Physicians for Human Rights are live unprotected lives as stateless un- or protection from personal violence. now facing their lowest ebb in coop- recognised members of Bangladesh As Bangladesh closes the door on eration from Bangladesh government society. Deprived of many human aid coming into the country, lack of authorities as they attempt to bring rights including the right to work, as options for the Rohingya women to medical and food aid into Kutupalong well as the rights of citizenship, in receive maternal healthcare is now camp. Another aid organisation, Is- both Bangladesh and their original reaching crisis levels. lamic Relief Worldwide, has recently home on the other side of the border Marriage rights too have been an pulled out due to the inability to re- with Burma, they struggle to keep issue for many women and girls, but ceive required permits to assist those their lives intact. The original home not in Bangladesh. In Burma permis- in need inside the camp. for the ethnic Rohingya in Burma sion for girls over the age of 18 to As aid programmes and pro- dates as far back as the 7th century marry is not granted without payment gramme funding to help the Rohingya AD. of a prohibitively high fee; a fee that are now being discontinued by the While Rohingyas are not offi- most Rohingya families could never Bangladesh government, Burmese cially recognised in Bangladesh as pay. Because of this, some families refugee mothers are falling through refugees, legal recognition for them have relocated to Bangladesh to en- the cracks. is vital to their survival and their abil- able their daughters to marry more ‘Bangladesh has increased re- ity to gain, and keep, asylum. Even easily. strictions on aid agencies working the ethnic identity of the Rohingyas But even with permission, mar- with the refugees,’ says a recent Refu- has been questioned in Burma, as well riages in situations of severe poverty

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 37 W O M E N often meet with roadblocks. Numer- ous women are left alone to care for The Burmese refugees in Bangladesh their children as husbands leave the makeshift camp to find work else- • Some 250,000 Burmese refugees live in Bangladesh, of whom just where for weeks or months at a time. 28,000 come under the protection of UNHCR. The others live hidden ‘[Rohingyas] are the only ethnic in villages or within large communities in makeshift camps. The group in Burma restricted from mar- Kutupalong makeshift camp has 20,000 refugees. riage, travelling beyond their village or building or maintaining religious • An estimated 44% of households are headed by women. structures,’ says international advo- cacy and assistance organisation, • The global acute malnutrition rate in the Kutupalong makeshift camp Refugees International. ‘In addition, is 30%, double the emergency threshold and 10% higher than in So- they are subject to frequent forced la- malia. bour, arbitrary taxation, sexual vio- lence and land confiscations by the • A $33 million United Nations joint initiative to regenerate the area NaSaKa [Burma military forces].’ where the refugees live was rejected by the Bangladesh government When husbands leave for work in April. – WNN in neighbouring regions, women as heads of household are forced to get their family’s food rations, as well as desh-Burma border. Ten years follow- camp, with mothers trying to protect search for clean potable water along ing the UNHCR data release, the 2007 their children from camp-based wa- with wood for cooking and heating Bangladesh government figures ter. Sewage management does not their homes. Dangers for women who showed a lower number of 26,000 for exist and the water teems with micro- often walk hours to gather basic ne- both camps. bial pollutants from faeces. cessities cause an ongoing, and seri- Current Bangladesh government With low access to even the most ous, safety dilemma. Cases of rape are policies of ignoring stateless mem- simple oral rehydration formula com- not uncommon. bers, and their growing numbers, monly used in Bangladesh, which in- Concerns at public community match persistent and growing prob- cludes water, salt and sugar, many toilets in the camp are also a real lems inside the camps, where ignor- Rohingya refugee mothers are forced safety issue as less than one toilet is ing needs is part of a targeted effort to watch helplessly as their children’s available to women per 10 families at to get minority migrants to perma- health deteriorates due to contami- Kutupalong. When rape does happen, nently leave the region. nated water. women have no access to making po- In Bangladesh, people give many Sanitation during childbirth is lice reports or to medical help. reasons for excluding the Rohingya also an issue. Expectant mothers run Protection for women and girls minority, including their ancient lan- unnecessary and high risks during against domestic violence and sexual guage, a language which has only childbirth due to lack of medical sup- assault too is literally non-existent been officially recognised since 2007 port offered in cases of complicated inside the camp. as ‘one of the world’s unique lan- deliveries. While Bangladesh has re- After what many now claim was guages.’ As Muslims, their brand of corded a remarkable 40% decrease in an attempt at ethnic cleansing in 1991- ethnic Sunni faith is also seen as a maternal mortality over the past nine 92, over 200,000 Rohingyas fled to religious dividing line between them- years, many minority migrant women Bangladesh from Burma following re- selves and others. living in the makeshift camps have not ports of widespread torture, deaths Because Burmese Rohingya refu- been taken into account in the figures. and atrocities. gees are considered to be undocu- With neither prospect of asylum But the numbers of those who mented ‘illegal’ immigrants, the in Bangladesh nor hope of returning migrated are not reliable. The current women and girls are facing many of to their native Arakan State in Burma, population of Rohingya living inside the same problems and situations of these Rohingya mothers and chil- Bangladesh may number over twice humiliation they faced in Burma. Ex- dren survive within the camp by tak- the reported figures. Under-reporting ploitation is common. Women, and ing refuge in the only thing they have and lack of accurate statistics have their families, who live in extreme left, each other. – Women News Net- contributed to a trend of deteriorat- poverty are in constant danger of be- work ÿu ing conditions for those in the make- ing tricked by human traffickers in shift camps. labour bondage or sex-trafficking Humanitarian news reporter Misha Hussain currently covers South Asia for the United Nations According to the United Nations schemes. news wire IRIN. Misha’s writing/filming credits refugee agency UNHCR’s 1997 sta- Disease and crisis conditions with include: the BBC, the Guardian, Time, Scotland on tistics, 27,400 refugees were living in diarrhoea and amoebic dysentery, of- Sunday, the New Statesman and, in South Asia, two makeshift camps: the Kutupalong ten followed by severe dehydration, Prothom Alo (Bangladesh) and Dawn (Pakistan). Additional material and research for this story and Nayapara camps on the Bangla- are found throughout the Kutupalong has been supplied by Women News Network – WNN.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 38 W O M E N Women’s issues missing from election manifestos Writing on the eve of South Africa’s 18 May local elections, Zukiswa Zimela pointed out the glaring absence of women’s issues from the manifestos of the contending parties.

COME rain or shine, single mother South Africa has achieved a 45% fe- group. ‘Loitering and some munici- of five, Sylvia Mathebula,* can be male representation in parliament. pal by-laws are used to unlawfully found selling fruit and cigarettes at the This places the country third in the arrest women who engage in sex roadside because it is the only way international rankings on women in work. We see police abusing women her family can survive. ‘Since the parliament, behind Rwanda and Swe- when they arrest them. Women are government is not helping us with den. reluctant to go and report when they jobs, rather than work as a maid for a Lisa Vetten, from the have been raped as sex workers,’ she white person I decided to start this lit- Tshwaranang Legal Advocacy Centre, says. tle business by myself,’ she says, la- says that while there has been an in- ‘I think there is also reluctance menting the lack of opportunities for crease in female representation in par- sometimes, people feel like women unskilled women. liament, the situation on the ground have enough equality and they don’t South Africans will take to the has gotten worse for women. There need more,’ Vetten says. polls on 18 May to vote in the coun- has also been a decline in policies that try’s fourth local government elec- would improve women’s lives. Hicks points out that although tions but women’s issues are glaringly Vetten says this is because it is men and women deserve equal access absent from many of the party mani- difficult for women to fight for wom- to energy and services, their positions festos, observers say. en’s issues if they are not on the par- in their family and in society mean This is despite the fact that 45% ty’s agenda. ‘What we need to remem- that they need them for different of female-headed households live be- ber is that women represent political things. low the poverty line, according to Sta- parties, we don’t vote for them as Often the onus is on women to tistics South Africa. women. They are there to represent provide fuel for the family. This is Janine Hicks from the Commis- the line that their political parties take, something that municipalities need to sion on Gender Equality says that which makes scrutinising party mani- consider when prioritising who none of the five major parties have festos very important,’ she says. should be able to access electricity, mainstreamed the issue of gender. Vetten further adds that it is im- and even the cost of electricity for ‘We have looked at a sample of party portant not to think of women as one poor communities, Hicks adds. manifestos and we did a scan and homogenous group but to identify ‘So you look at women gather- analysis and in the main parties have their specific needs. She says that ing coal and dung and other unclean not mainstreamed gender in their some women are more at risk than forms of energy using productive manifestos. Their main focus seems others. Lesbians in South African hours that they could use for running to be on service delivery,’ she says. townships are vulnerable targets for a small business in gathering energy,’ Hicks says service delivery corrective rape and homophobia. Cor- says Hicks. means something different for women rective rape is when men rape homo- ‘There is a general assumption and men as women have different sexual women in the belief that they that because we have gender equality needs compared to men. Municipali- can change their sexual preference. in the constitution, gender equality ties need to recognise this and plan The country has been rated by has been achieved,’ says Vetten. accordingly for service delivery. If Interpol as having the worst incidence there is no adequate sanitation in of rape among Interpol states. Vetten called for civil society to schools, girls tend to drop out of ‘Already we have had two mur- be louder in voicing the needs of school because of the lack of private, ders [of lesbians] in KwaThema in women and making sure that wom- functioning latrines and water when Springs. We need to ask what local en’s needs do not fall off the agenda. they menstruate, she adds. government is doing. Clearly there is Meanwhile, Mathebula will not During the last general elections a problem in that area,’ she says. Eudy be voting on 18 May. She has given in 2009 the Africa Media Monitor Simelane, a lesbian, was raped and up hope and lost faith in government. found that gender issues only featured murdered in 2008. In April 2011 ‘This voting that we do does not work. in 1% of the rhetoric. This is despite Noxolo Nogwaza, a victim of correc- All they want is for us to vote while the fact that women constitute more tive rape, was gang-raped and mur- they get all the money,’ she says. – than half the country’s population and dered. IPS ÿu more than half the registered voters. Vetten says that sex workers are This is also despite the fact that also a vulnerable and marginalised * Not her real name.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 39 V I E W P O I N T Marriage of novelty with nostalgia The British royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton was a festival of exclusion which denied the reality that exists behind the image of impeccable décor.

EXACTLY 30 years after the disas- Jeremy Seabrook nourishment of jelly and cupcakes. trous fairytale wedding of Charles and This is of a piece with Prime Minis- Diana, it was the turn of their son to ter David Cameron’s determination to rewrite the recent matrimo- create the ‘big society’: a nial history of the House of reassertion of the power of Windsor. This was accom- community, which is to plished by doing every- take over from a retreat- thing imaginable to erase ing state. No matter that the ghosts of 1981. It was this is in defiance of real- as different from that alli- ity; since community has ance as could be imagined: been fragmented and bro- a love-match, an anomaly ken into pieces by the in perpetuating royal dy- florid individualism of the nasties. The couple knew past 50 years. It might also each other intimately, and be noted that Cameron’s had spent much time to- dedication to the benign gether since they met at St hypertrophy of Society Andrew’s University al- stands in stark contrast to most a decade earlier. Kate the efforts of his inspira- The blushing newlyweds Prince William and Kate Middleton – is Middleton is a ‘com- absorbing one ‘commoner’ into the traditional ruling castes as tion, Margaret Thatcher, moner’, although her fam- much social mobility as we are going to get in this generation? who famously announced ily figure among the top that there was ‘no such few percent in Britain in terms of both ingham Palace, trees transplanted into thing as society’. income and education. Even the dress Westminster Abbey in readiness for a These were the nuptials of nos- – object of such effusions – eschewed record TV audience across the world, talgia with modernity. A fly-past by the grandiosely corseted confection showed Britain at its polished best, Lancaster bombers from World War that had constricted Diana in 1981; with commentators gushing over the Two also reminded us of the togeth- indeed, the wedding-gown itself was Scottish state coach, the restored Ed- erness of Britain during the Blitz – an a symbol of the made-over monarchy. wardian landau, the 1950 Bentley and unfailing reaffirmation of our finest The bride is a very different person- Rolls so shiny the trees of the Mall moment: that an event from almost ality from the unstable and unhappy were reflected in its scoured veneer. three-quarters of a century ago has to Princess of Wales. The rules of the A flawless performance of a country be constantly replayed says a great game – marry for dynastic purposes in which, it appears, there is neither deal about the destiny of Britain in the but make love separately – were sus- dissent nor poverty. A day of national intervening years. The event also cel- pended between the couple, whose rejoicing, in which we are supposed ebrated a militaristic present: not only ‘normality’ and ‘ordinariness’ have to identify ourselves, renew our vows were the uniforms of the officer class been stressed. to an altered monarchy and relearn ubiquitous, but jets also screamed Apart from that, it seems that eve- once more who we are. over the Palace as a reminder of the rything else was in duly regal order. work of Britain, recent or current, in The glittering processions, the colour, ‘Big society’? Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, as an the choreographed ceremonial, the ancillary agent in the bringing of or- high fashion, the apotheosis of the But there are at least three ele- der to outposts of the new imperium fusion between royalty and celebrity, ments that deserve closer scrutiny. of global capital. the eager crowds camping out for days First of all, efforts to reinstitute erst- The second noteworthy quality of on the hard stone pavements, the idi- while popular activities such as the the day was the distinct triumphalism osyncratic dress and patriotic fervour street party, of which some five and a of the traditional ruling castes. Ab- of people waving the union flag and half thousand apparently took place sorbing one commoner is as much singing ancient imperial ditties, ‘Rule up and down Britain, including one social mobility as we are going to get Britannia’ and ‘Land of Hope and in Downing Street, with its invited in this generation. To remind us that Glory’, to keep themselves warm in celebrities behind the black iron rail- this was simply a daring experiment, the chill April night. A floodlit Buck- ings, eating what looked like retro everything else spoke of continuity,

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 40 V I E W P O I N T irreproachable propriety, nished image and the pre- the reactionary reflex of cision engineering of Vic- a royalty whose foreign torian pantomime. representatives consti- The TV channels, tuted a sadly depleted uncritical, fawning, syco- phalanx in the Abbey. phantic, gave the impres- Much was made of the sion that this all captures omission from the guest- the essence of Britain. It list of the two most recent is a Britain of fantasy, in Prime Ministers of Brit- which the impoverished ain, Labour’s Blair and and the disaffected, the Brown. The sparkling as- downtrodden and the de- sembly seemed to de- spairing, the unemployed clare with a single voice youth, the student pro- that the levelling doc- tester, the disemployed trines of socialism had public service worker, the finally received their qui- The coverage of the royal wedding projected ‘a Britain of fantasy, in marginalised and the etus. Labour, it appears, which the impoverished and the disaffected, the downtrodden and spurned seeker of refuge, ingested by the Estab- the despairing, the unemployed youth, the student protester... have have no place. lishment, has been no place’. Picture shows students marching against the British This royal wedding chewed up and spat out government’s education spending cuts. was not just a love story, again, notwithstanding as TV presenters declared the wan presence of Ed Miliband. It grassed over, planted with saplings it to be. Nor was it ‘a private family was almost as though Labour had and ornamental shrubs; the ‘satanic occasion.’ It was difficult not to feel never existed: Kate Middleton is a mills’ to which the congregation re- sympathy for the nervous gaucherie symbol of the only form of progress ferred as they sang ‘Jerusalem’ have of the groom, the fate of whose now on offer – the personal ascent of been safely sanitised or exported to mother cannot have been far from his the individual high-achiever. the slums of Asia and Africa. thoughts, and the poised charm of his That Tony Blair was absent also The third aspect of these celebra- bride. This ought to have transcended shows the remarkably selective tions was the virtually monochrome the mummery. But it was impossible memory of the Windsors. After all, a nature of the people, not only in the to ignore that this was a festival of mere 14 years ago, after the death of Abbey but also on the streets. BBC exclusion, a denial of all the other Diana, he had been instrumental in cameras sought out, with some anxi- versions of Britain that exist behind reconciling a dangerously disaffected ety, and in a traditional reversion to the impeccable décor. public to the aloof and unforgiving cliché, the happy smile of non-white Perhaps the assertiveness of the monarchy. He did much to save them faces on the Mall and elsewhere; a restoration of government by million- from themselves, and appeared to mock Hindu wedding was held in aires and boys from Eton is a little pre- have softened the stony heart of Southall, where members of the mature. The ‘austerity’ they propose power, when the Queen returned to Middleton family once lived. Ritual to the people has not yet really begun London to be close to her subjects in obeisance was made to the ‘common- to take effect. The relegated and un- an unprecedented outpouring of pub- wealth family’, but if the spectacle ruly, the uninvited and disregarded lic grief. was for global diffusion, the political have barely realised what is going to Tony Blair’s even greater service message was strictly for home con- hit them in the coming years. When to the preservation of the social edi- sumption. they do, they may prove to be, not the fice of Britain, of which the monar- Amid the spectacle and majesty, meekly dispensable minority of this chy is the peak, went equally it seemed that a redundant imperial fictional world of inturned imperial uncelebrated. For it was his purpose pomp had been forced back upon it- supremacy, but a force to be reckoned to demonstrate that Labour poses no self, too extravagant to be contained with in a country which proclaims the threat to the existing order. Instead of within the narrow confines of these imperishability of its traditions all the gratitude for this priceless gift, the islands; clearly the ceremonial had more vociferously as it is bypassed royals behaved with the same puni- been designed for wider horizons than and overtaken by the urgencies of an tive hauteur with which they reduce those of Britain; and the projected 2- impatient and restless ‘real world’, to invisibility everyone of whom they billion-strong TV audience served as which it evokes constantly but from do not approve. The historic mission surrogate for the once-captive mil- the asperities of which it believes it- of labour has been accomplished, and lions of empire. The 8,000 journalists, self exempt. ÿu it can sink back into the forgotten tur- ‘the eyes of the world on London’, bulence of the industrial revolution reassured us that we are unrivalled in Jeremy Seabrook is a freelance journalist based in whence it sprang; landscaped now, presentation, if not in power, the bur- the UK.

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 41 M E D I A Media complicit in rise of xenophobia in Europe As European leaders increasingly question the concept of a Europe without borders and follow each other in announcing the end of multiculturalism, the media response has been mostly to present migrants as destabilising Europe’s labour markets and welfare states.

Zoltán Dujisin

THE contribution of the media to the worsening image of migrants in Eu- rope was debated in Budapest at a conference titled ‘Promoting Migrant Integration through Media and UN Photo/OCHA/David Ohana Intercultural Dialogue’. The conference, organised by the International Organisation for Migra- tion (IOM) and the Hungarian Presi- dency of the European Union, ran from 16-18 May, and was aimed at People escaping the conflict in Libya await food distribution in an Egyptian border helping media representatives provide town. Despite the fact that most of those who fled Libya have gone to Egypt and fair and balanced coverage of migra- other neighbouring African countries, European media have raised fears of a migration tion issues. crisis in Europe. With far-right, anti-immigration parties gaining strength throughout White, former general secretary of the agreed, has peaked with the Middle Europe, journalists have been sig- International Federation of Journal- East revolts in general, and the Libyan nalled as frequent accomplices to ris- ists, told participants. crisis in particular. ing xenophobia. ‘There is a crisis within the me- Since the beginning of what some ‘European public opinion is be- dia, a financial crisis that is reducing have termed the ‘Arab Spring’, ‘no ing pressed with the threat of a mi- the quality of training, of journalism, more than 30,000 people have arrived gration wave. Both politicians and and ultimately journalists’ capacity to in Europe, but the reaction has been journalists should recognise their mis- tell complex stories.’ surprising’, Kinga Goncz, vice-chair takes,’ Czech sociologist Ivan Gabal There is a harsh, competitive en- of the European Parliament’s LIBE told participants. vironment that is leading editors and (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Mircea Toma, president of Active journalists to violate codes of ethics. Affairs) Committee, told the confer- Watch, a Romanian media monitor- ‘If anti-immigration writing allows ence. ing agency, advanced a similar view: the media to stay in business, the me- ‘This is not a large number but ‘Journalists often don’t look at events dia will go for it,’ Milica Pesic, ex- from reading the media you would with an eagle eye, but rather with the ecutive director of the UK-based think it’s a huge number. There’s a same perspective as anyone in the Media Diversity Institute, warned. paranoid fear that these people will population,’ he said. Still, blame should not be placed overburden Europe, while actually The increasing commercialisa- exclusively on the media, White said. some of the economies that are better tion of the mainstream media and the ‘This is not just a problem of the me- recovering from the crisis, like Ger- profit imperatives it imposes seem to dia. Issues related to economic migra- many’s, require even more migrants,’ be at the core of the lowering of qual- tion are complex, but lack of courage she said. ity in media coverage of migration- is leading to an unscrupulous form of The latest crisis has also under- related issues. politics. We are facing a general prob- lined the ethnocentrism of European ‘We certainly need some trans- lem of societal anxiety about our media. ‘Eight hundred thousand peo- parency rules to see where the fund- healthcare, our education and our la- ple, overwhelmingly migrant work- ing is coming from and what are the bour market.’ ers, have fled from Libya and gone political groups involved,’ Aidan An anxiety which, participants mostly to Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Chad

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 42 M E D I A and Algeria. This indeed represents a migration crisis, but it is not affect- The Global Crisis and the Turkish Economy ing Europe yet,’ Jean-Philippe by Ercan Uygur Chauzy, head of the IOM’s Media and Communication Unit, told Inter Press After a period of relatively high and stable Service (IPS). growth, the Turkish economy suffered a serious The message was, however, not blow from the global crisis of 2008-09. This that media should portray migrants paper examines the extent to which the major positively; instead, speakers stressed macroeconomic indicators of growth, employment and inflation in Turkey have been the need to ensure balanced and ac- affected by the worldwide downturn. The paper curate reporting. also looks at the main channels through which ‘Journalists have prejudices of the crisis reached Turkish shores: external trade, their own,’ Pesic said. ‘It’s very im- capital flows, the banking sector and business portant to know the facts, figures and confidence. sources, but even when they have Assessing the Turkish authorities’ them, some papers will go out of their response to the crisis, the paper contends that way to mislead.’ there was a delay in taking fiscal and monetary Concerns over lack of journalis- policy action to counteract the effects of the Global Economy no. 21 tic ethics were shared by more than global turmoil. The effectiveness of the ISBN: 978-967-5412-14-1 72 pp one state official: ‘Journalists often measures that were eventually implemented has have an agenda, in the ministries we also varied, with further concerns arising over the burden imposed by the often provide them with correct, writ- fiscal measures on the government budget. ten information and they still write it In terms of the future outlook, the paper states that post-crisis adjustments wrong or put things out of context,’ in the global economy may put paid to Turkey’s prior reliance on foreign Paulina Babis from the Polish Minis- capital inflows to fuel growth. In any event, the crisis has amply exposed the try of Labour and Social Policy told dangers of dependence on volatile financial flows – a dependence which, in IPS. Turkey’s case, has also been detrimental to long-run competitiveness and Yet some questioned why jour- employment generation. Consequently, the author suggests, Turkey should nalists would even begin by approach- move away from this unsustainable growth strategy and, among other measures, ing officials and not give voice to consider instituting capital and exchange controls in the medium term. those who remain mostly voiceless: ‘Migrants and their organisations PRICE POSTAGE should speak for migrants, not gov- Malaysia RM9.00 RM1.00 ernment officials,’ White said. Third World countries US$6.00 US$2.00 (air); US$1.00 (sea) ‘Journalists will go to the easiest Other foreign countries US$8.00 US$2.00 (air); US$1.00 (sea) available source, they don’t have time Orders from Malaysia – please pay by credit card/crossed cheque or postal order. for much else. What we need is an Orders from Australia, Brunei, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, UK, USA alternative sources handbook that – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money order in own cur- should be made available to them,’ he rency, US$ or Euro. If paying in own currency or Euro, please calculate equivalent of suggested. US$ rate. If paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. Journalists, civic actors and inter- Rest of the world – please pay by credit card/cheque/bank draft/international money national and state officials agreed the order in US$ or Euro. If paying in Euro, please calculate equivalent of US$ rate. If solution lies in increased cooperation paying in US$, please ensure that the agent bank is located in the USA. between the media and other societal All payments should be made in favour of Third World Network Bhd., 131 Jalan actors. Macalister, 10400 Penang, Malaysia. Tel: 60-4-2266728/2266159; Fax: 60-4-2264505; ‘Migration is a complex and Email: [email protected] changing issue and journalists have I would like to order...... copy/copies of The Global Crisis and the Turkish less and less time to develop exper- Economy. tise. They don’t have the resources to I enclose the amount of US$/Euro/RM ...... (cheque/bank draft/IMO). cover an issue which requires a com- Please charge the amount of US$/RM ...... to my credit card: prehensive understanding of the con- text,’ Chauzy said, speaking to IPS. American Express Visa Mastercard ‘The present context is one of economic downturn and growing un- A/c no.: Expiry date: employment, which is leading to po- Signature: larisation. That’s why the media should get all the information it needs: Name: biased coverage is less acceptable in an era when access to information is Address: a lot easier than at any other time in history,’ he said. – IPS ÿu

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 43 P O E T R Y

Rabindranath Tagore (7 May 1861-7 August 1941) is well known as the great Indian poet who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913. But he was more than a great poet as he left behind a rich legacy of writings and achievements as a novelist, playwright, music composer, painter, educationist and much else. On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, we pay tribute to this many-sided genius by reproducing the following poem from his famous collection, Gitanjali (Song Offerings).

Gitanjali 55

Rabindranath Tagore

Spring is awake at the door today. Don’t provoke or play your tricks by hiding your veiled life away. Open the heart’s-flower on its stem, forget, forget the ‘us-and-them’; in the song-vociferous sky let your fragrance wave-coast by; make free with every ounce of sweetness, in the wide world losing your way.

O what a deep hurt of the forest sings in its tender greenery! Waiting for whom on his way from the sky does the Earth swarm into her finery? Now as the south wind through my heart pours, for whom has there been a knocking-at-doors? Who wakes the fragrance-bewildered night, as on the Earth his feet alight? O beautiful lover and lord, to whom is your solemn invitation, pray?

Translated from the Bengali by Joe Winter

THIRD WORLD RESURGENCE No 249 44